New laptop arriving today

[Jetronic]

The new laptop is being couriered to my house now. When I ordered it (through work, who pay part of it) W11 wasn't available, so I assume it has W10 on it, but could come with W11 now.

Just in case, any experiences with W10 or 11 here? Things to look out for? I'm currently using W7 still.

I've started using Netscape for mail and internet back when, and progressed to Firefox/Thunderbird since. I'd like to stay with that unless there are compelling reasons not to? I also have a work email which I use Outlook for, the work email isn't strictly private so I want a clear distimction between work and private.

I'm guessing Bitdefender free is a good choice to occasionally scan for malware and virusses?

The laptop is a HP probook G8 450 with i7 and 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. I also receive a 2TB external drive and a DVD-writer.

 

[Gokhan]

Chrome for the browser. Thunderbird is fine if you want a local email client. Windows Defender (built-in) is more than enough for viruses. If you have a work Google account, you get unlimited Google Drive storage and file backup.

 

[HankHill]

I loved win 7 and I procrastinated upgrading to w 10, but I relented 2 years ago.. Wind 10 is good, no real complaints... But I have anxiety uprading to 11.

 

[Schandyman]

Have not yet converted over to another email service still using gmail but I've went to duckduckgo for search engine and using their browser on my iPhone and android tablet. Very happy with it I'd check the windows app store for availability.

I joined duckduckgo and on the waitlist for an email address through them.

 

[henni]

StartAllBack 3.2.1.4211 for Windows 11, if Windows 10, use OpenShellSetup_4_4_169
If Win11, Abelssoft Win11PrivacyFix 2022 1.01.32977, if Win10, Abelssoft Win10 PrivacyFix 2021 3.04.22
Search Google for "Debloat Windows 11" and follow the directions for Powershell

Note that the same precise model for removing Cortana, OneDrive and disabling tracking-telemetry works in both Windows 10 and 11 since W11 is actually W10 under_the_hood, just a different build/compile

 

[Schandyman]

StartAllBack 3.2.1.4211 for Windows 11, if Windows 10, use OpenShellSetup_4_4_169
If Win11, Abelssoft Win11PrivacyFix 2022 1.01.32977, if Win10, Abelssoft Win10 PrivacyFix 2021 3.04.22
Search Google for "Debloat Windows 11" and follow the directions for Powershell

That's a mouthful

 

[wxtech]

ive been using windows 10 since it first came out. i hated it at first but now its grown on me to where i prefer it over linux & windows 11.

im one of the few that never had an issue with windows vista. if i could, id still use it today. windows 7 was my favorite and i wish microsoft would make an up to date, bloat-free desktop OS with the windows 7 GUI. ive been testing windows 11 since its beta release, and honestly, im not impressed. they have moved things around and made so many minor changes to "how you get things done" it makes it quite annoying to use. many user hacks/fixes to correct those things have been taken away. i have it on my laptop just to keep up with changes made and microsoft has yet to make anything better/user friendly. im not planning on installing it on my main PC until windows 10 is no longer supported. for email i use outlook that came with microsoft office.

the edge browser has improved a lot since the windows 8 days. i use it as my main browser. i also use firefox.

an updated windows 10 has very good security and their windows defender is plenty good enough to keep your computer safe. but personally i use eset for security on my main computer. i use windows defender on my windows 11 laptop.

after i clean install of any OS, program, etc... i customize everything. the fact that microsoft has taken away many of those customizations really turns me against using windows 11. if i cant fix/hack it to work the way i need it to, then id rather not use it.

 

[henni]

the fact that microsoft has taken away many of those customizations really turns me against using windows 11.

In addition to the suggested Powershell debloating process (see earlier message), the privacy tools and Yamicsoft Windows 11 manager make it very quick and easy. Writing this on a W11Pro machine that has the appearance of a W7Ent system and menu/look/control

One other suggestion that I strongly recommend: Purchase Directory Opus Professional license, it will make your life so much easier in managing all system files and replaces File Manager/Explorer

Ok, recommendation Two: Purchase GlassWire Elite - it will secure your system on top of the firewall with "Ask to Connect" feature enabled.

 

[fsdork]

I've stuck with Firefox out of habit, but I've found lately that it's not well supported by some third parties. As an example, I couldn't get a waybill from Purolator (a Canadian courier) to generate after scheduling a shipment. I went through all the common pop-up blocker issues, then called Purolator's tech support. Their solution: use Chrome. I won't use Edge out of spite - Windows is fairly pushy about trying to get you to use Bing and to set Edge as the default browser.

 

[henni]

As to Firefox, all laptops running W11/W10 Pro use uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and for secure systems also NoScript which adds a layer on top of the preceding two. No issues with Banks, Insurance companies, Carriers with custom blocking rules.

Bonus for forums: Using uBO, it enables full screen (no sidebars or titles) use on forums, no ads show, no popups and messages are read from edge to edge of screen making it easy and efficient to read/search/reply/ask

 

[paulri]

The last few months I've switched to Chrome for the first time since it first came out, for this reason. Even some browsers that are built on Chromium (Brave, MS Edge) have little hiccups that Chrome doesn't. It doesn't make sense for me to spend much time trying to troubleshoot why something isn't working, so I just decided to make the switch.

I've stuck with Firefox out of habit, but I've found lately that it's not well supported by some third parties. As an example, I couldn't get a waybill from Purolator (a Canadian courier) to generate after scheduling a shipment. I went through all the common pop-up blocker issues, then called Purolator's tech support. Their solution: use Chrome. I won't use Edge out of spite - Windows is fairly pushy about trying to get you to use Bing and to set Edge as the default browser.

 

[UG_Passat]

Win11 buried your usual right click options into a sub-menu (for desktop functions). Annoying to do extra clicks over time.

Other than that, not much to complain about.

Yes, windows defender is more than adequate for viruses, but not malware. Malwarebytes is good for that, and you can use the free version and constantly be bothered to buy the subscription version

 

[paulri]

That does sound silly. I wonder if there are utilities that can help us edit the context menu? I seem to remember something like that when I used to be more into tweaking Windows.

Win11 buried your usual right click options into a sub-menu (for desktop functions). Annoying to do extra clicks over time.

 

[henni]

Anything wrong with using Regedit ?

Context Menu C:\Windows in one W11Pro laptop now... editable to any taste

 

[ZeeOSix]

The new laptop is being couriered to my house now. When I ordered it (through work, who pay part of it) W11 wasn't available, so I assume it has W10 on it, but could come with W11 now.

Just in case, any experiences with W10 or 11 here? Things to look out for? I'm currently using W7 still.

I still use W7 too on my old desktop. Bought a Dell laptop 1-1/2 years ago with W10 on it. It took a little bit to get use to W10, but it's not as bad as some people make it seem. At this point, W10 has been out so long that if you need to figure something out all you need to do is Google what you're looking for and you will find tons of info on how to run W10.

I'm guessing Bitdefender free is a good choice to occasionally scan for malware and virusses?

I had some issues with Bitdefender free on W7 a few years ago, so I uninstalled it and never used it again. I don't know if it's better today. But with W10 just use the built-in Windows Defender and I'd suggest downloading Malwarebytes free addition if you want a good occasional manual scanner.

 

[Jetronic]

Seems I need to get a microsoft account to set a pincode so I can log on to the laptop while offline. I just used another mail account to set the computer up but that only works while online.

 

[Jetronic]

I upgraded the RAM today, went from 1 stick of Samsung 1R 16GB, to 2 sticks of crucial 1R (hoping it could be 2R but oh well) 16 GB. The excess stick goes to the daughters laptop.

CPU-Z has a bench feature that didn't show any difference, I suppose it runs completely in cached memory.

But Passmrk did, I think it's quite significant.

Before: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=160786352541

and after: https://www.passmark.com/baselines/V10/display.php?id=161093304348

I had planned to do this sooner, but you know, chip shortages...

I tried to play world of warships again and trust me when I say this: DOUBLE the framerate from 70s to 150+.... I was secretly hoping for near 100 so I could run nicer textures, running the best now....

 

[Jetronic]

Also, I always had 300 to 900 MB of compressed memory after a bit of use. The highest so far is 56 MB and I have no idea why that's needed with 32 GB. I had nearly no free memory left before (iris xe tries to claim half)