Indeed! Always have a backup!

Yeah, I was wondering why I didn't get the latest update one only 1 of my rigs. I was just too eager to test it out and got burned.

Luckily cloning still exists and it worked flawlessly. Now I have three 1TB M.2 drives :D
I'll keep the old 500GB for, just-in-case, backup.

Seems like there is a higher than normal number of issues with the latest update. I'm sure I've seen someone else mentioning the display being blank too, but I don't recall Where.

So, I tried installing the latest (2H22) on a new drive and it failed gigantically. It refused to show any display, neither onboard or dedicated. Luckily my old drive still works. But holy fuck if this drive fails I would have to go either W10 or Linux.

Folder previews is gone :( And everything is flat.
I did notice it's a lot quicker to boot and shutdown.

Sadly it's still the same old file explorer with all it's faults. This is the key part of windows that needs to be remade from scratch, but it won't happen as it's the core of the desktop :/

At the very least MS could add tabbed windows to File Explorer to make copying files easier, but no I guess not :(

I'm sure I could make 11 work on my laptop but I have no desire to do so :D

I've installed W11 on my laptop and it wasn't half bad. It still has some weird double context menus but overall I had no issues (I only tried GIMP, LibreOffice, and Firefox).
You can still add shortcuts to the taskbar but it's a bit more complicated. Oh, and as usual it adds new links of programs on the start menu, which you can still delete.
The 'settings' menu is visually different.

Small big downside is that folders no longer have previews in File explorer (it could be hidden in the options though).
Also the context menu in File explorer has changed (see pic).

All in all, and so far, I give it a solid 5 out of 7

Some good, some bad, some ugly! :D

Things they removed:

- Cortana (yay!)
- Desktop wallpaper (cannot be roamed to or from device when signed in)?
- Internet Explorer (duh)
- Management capabilities (for organizations experiences are limited)
- Math Input Panel (Math Recognizer will install on demand)
- Multi-App Kiosk Mode (only support single app)
- News & Interests (has evolved)
- Quick Status (from the Lockscreen and associated settings are removed)
- S Mode (only available for Windows 11 Home edition)
- Search Results from the Internet
- Snipping Tool and Snip and Sketch (merged)
- Start (Named groups and folders of apps are no longer supported) Boo! :(
- Tablet Mode
- Taskbar (is changed)
- Timeline
- Touch Keyboard
- Wallet
- Windows Deployment Services (partially deprecated)
- Windows Store for Business and Windows Store for Education

Alas or not, my work pc (Ryzen 3 2200G) is not supported. Thank jfc?

I have your update right here. Just apply a healthy coating to your windows 10 installation and enjoy the upgrade :D

Autobots, roll out!

I'm gonna wait at least a few weeks before updating one of my pc's,

It turns out it just adds stuff to the context menu but doesn't delete anything. >>37372 ShellExView is still better but can also be tricky

>>37371 Looks useful. I've used a similar tool in the past to edit context menus, which is called ShellExView, which I found useful to get rid of unwanted context menu items.

Do you know this tool?

FileMenu Tools is an application which lets you customize the context menu of Windows File Explorer.

The main features are the following:

Add some built-in utilities that perform operations on files and folders. These utilities are explained below in more detail.
Add custom commands which run a specific action. The possible actions are the following:
Run external applications
Copy/move to a specific folder
Delete specific file types
Send the selected files as attachments to e-mail recipient(s)
Rename the selected files using a set of rules
Configure the "Send to..." submenu
Enable/disable commands which are added by other applications to the context menu

https://www.lopesoft.com/index.php/en/products/filemenutools

>>37344 It's better than the real thing :D

I saw this handy website that runs W11. Saves me an install ;)

https://win11.blueedge.me/

>>37338 Noice! :)

YAY, it works!

I made a "physical" backup of my FireFox settings as well as login using Sync (FF account). Then deleted all things from Mozilla plus hidden folders and stuff in the registry. I then installed the old version (88.0.1) and to be certain I disconnected the lan/wifi adapters. I copied the chrome folder with the userChrome.css from my work pc >>37337 to the Profile folder (user/x/Roaming/etc..)
And in the about:config I turned toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets from false to true.
Lastly I reconnected the lan/wifi adapters.

And voila no more cluttered context menus!!

This website was a great help: https://www.userchrome.org/

PS: exporting all shit (password, cookies and shit) from firefox to Edge is highly recommended, made importing easier.

I have a firefox version upgraded from v88.0.1 that does have a lot of the context items removed. So it does work, just not with v91..

I have a firefox version upgraded from v88.0.1 that does have a lot of the context items removed. So it does work, just not with v91.

>>37334 It might still be under warranty, you should maybe check it out.

I'm using Firefox also but I haven't tried removing context menu options. Maybe there is an add-on that can help? ...doesn't look like it.
I'm not sure there is much you can do :/

I still have 3 left. It just could've been a bad chip, who knows.

Btw, what browser are you using? I'm having serious beef with the cluttered context menus of Firefox. I've made an userChrome.css file but FF still shows half the crap I don't want.

970 Evo? I have two of those. Never had any problems, but nothing lasts forever... :/

As you say thankfully Steam is pretty good at picking up and using the games you already have downloaded.

It was a Samsung 970 NVME. And I had backup from a completely different pc (AMD Ryzen). Well, windows tried but failed miserably..

I just did a fresh an' clean install and luckily all is well again in Tech land. The new ssd is a little bit slower than the previous but also 40 euro cheaper. Booting is smooth now and the bios time is down to 9.3 seconds, not as fast as my laptop but better than b4. Luckily I have Steam on a different ssd so I only need to start it and it will repair itself :D

So is that a SSD or HDD that fucked up?

Was the backup W10 install for that computer or another one? Windows now is not good at booting installs made on a different computer, which is a shame as back in the XP days it was really good at that.

Yeah, I backup all important stuff on multiple disks. So nothing is really lost but it's just a pita.

Kinda funny how it showed me the disk failure; I had file explorer open and was about to create a new folder when all the thumbnail and folder previews disappeared then 3 seconds later the pc rebooted without a warning. And booted directly to the bios/the other name.

So I use a temporary drive atm, and luckily(?) it had a w10 installation on it, so Windows did its thing but it fucked-up the startup. It flashes the screen a couple of times and it reboots the pc before loading the os, the startup time is now 17.5 seconds! So a clean install is still needed..grrr

>>37328 Bummer about the drive, hopefully all your data was backed up. I wonder what random set of bugs you'll get this time in your windows installation.

Well FUCK. My windows drive is dead. Luckily I had a spare drive and now I'm in the process of re-configuring windows... yay :/

>>37324 I wouldn't say 'ALL is well' we are dealing with computers here! XD

Sadly these days products are pushed out before they are ready on the assumption that any problems can be fixed later. Of course those problems are never fixed later as they need to be working on the next product to send out early :/

I've heard that before about killer networks. Weird. But luckily all is well again in the land of Tech ;)

>>37262 I fixed the problem with gaming on windows :D

I have always thought my Killer Networking 1535 wifi card was a bit shit, but I didn't know it was wasn't just bad at wifi but it was also super shit at bluetooth. My PS4 controller connects via bluetooth and it seems that sometimes this can cause the stuttering problem I was having.

I have replaced the Killer 1535 with an Intel AX200 and the stuttering is gone!?!
I played a bit more Horizons Zero Dawn and it was perfect!

How bad do Killers wifi drivers have to be that they can cause the entire operating system to stutter?!?

Interesting that my old killer 1535 has an Atheros chipset but now that Intel has bought killer networking all the new killer wifi products are just re-badged Intel ones XD

Perhaps this has all been part of the intel con to force people to buy new hardware? :S

I might not need to reinstall windows now, but I'm still going to keep my productivity and gaming separate as I know some of the background processes do still use resources when I'm gaming.

Noice!

We have those too, and a not working app!

>>37280 We have little paper cards with our vaccine details on, but nobody uses it so it's all pointless :D

-_-

Does the UK have an app or a dead tree certificate to see whether you are fully vaccinated?

>>37273 My lawyers have advised me not to discuss that matter.

When You got it working several websites went down.. Kinda sus™

Server upgrade is maybe working...
...let me know if something on the site isn't working for you.

>>37263 Good luck!

I am sure you will manage it. Or throw it out

>>37262 Yeah, so much fun :S

I wouldn't worry about it, as I say it might be a problem with my windows installation which I'll be reinstalling at some point.

But before that I have to upgrade my fucking server which every time I try it fucks up!?!?!
:(

I get it working perfectly on my identical (well almost it has a newer version of the cpu which is slightly faster) device only for it to have a serious os error when I switch it to the server device!?!

I can use the current server setup with the backup/htpc device with no errors and it should be possible to switch between them without problem. I'm thinking I might just switch devices as well! But I do prefer to have the slightly faster device for the htpc stuff. Oh well, back to setting up server software :/

I'll install it on my other machines too, including one laptop just to see if I can recreate your issue. That is why computing is fun :D

I'm pleased it works fine for you. You now how it goes, different computers mean different problems. It's what makes computing so much fun :/

I've been playing Horizon Zero Dawn and experiencing zero issues. I did notice the VRAM creeping up ever so slightly.

Windows 11 installed just fine in VM and runs well enough. Not much different except the central menu, which can be moved to the left or right, and the settings app looks different.

Control Panel is still present and looking the same as ever though!!! XD

I'm downloading windows 11 in a VM currently. It's interesting that even though my laptop CPU isn't officially supported windows is still happy to download the update in windows update. You currently can't get an official standalone install of windows 11 so it has to be through windows update. I'll update here once it installs, or doesn't...

>>37236 I've tried it with the graphics settings on the lowest possible settings for everything, still the same problem. It's definitely not GPU related, it's just some weird CPU glitch. My GPU is running at about 40% with lower settings and the problem is still there. The only other software running us windows. It just a buggy game on PC. But I'll reinstall windows at some point and perhaps that will fix the problem.

Have you tried to limit the FPS?

>>37234 Sadly nothing seems to fix the problems with the game. I have manually killed every possible process that isn't required by windows and still the game has problems. It's a strange one for sure as cyberpunk plays smooth on my laptop. Restarting the game usually helps, for a while but soon enough the problem comes back. It's not a memory leak as I have 32Gb and it there is plenty free. It isn't a loading from disk problem as it's all on SSD. It isn't a GPU problem as even the most basic settings there make no difference. It just seems the CPU becomes overloaded for no clear reason. No other game does this.
It'll be interesting to see if a windows reinstall at some point will fix things, but I suspect it won't.

I guess that cooler was made with a small case in mind, but you've made it fit well. You can always just turn up the volume of the game so you can't hear the fans :D

Maybe set your laptop to performance mode and/or change some stuff for game in Nvidia control panel. I've played HZD before and it runs smooth on my rig.

I mounted a Raijintek Morpheus II gpu cooler as the stock cooler wasn't good enough. Only downside are the slim fans which are a bit noisy. But it has a lot better cooling now.

>>37232 And if you put a pizza and a mug of coffee on top to stay warm you'll be sorted for hours! :D

I'm kinda played out on Forza currently as I now have every car in the games except for 3 that are only available if you buy the game from a different store. But it was a lot of fun getting there :)

I'm looking forward to Forza Horizon 5 but I'm not sure I'll buy it until I can get the game and all the DLC for less than £50. I just don't think this game is worth £100+

Been playing Horizon Zero Dawn lately and it's not a bad game but it stutters like fuck at times which really spoils things. The game happily runs using about 50% cpu and then just suddenly has bursts of 100%. It's such a shame the port is so badly done. Hopefully the second game will be ported to PC in house at Sony.

My new 4TB SSD came with Resident Evil Village so I have that to play at some point too. At £385 it's the most expensive game I've ever bought!!! XD

I've been playing a lot of Forza 4 Horizon on my new 4K monitor and I gotta say it my tiny system >>37230 handles it well. Sure it heats up like an oven but ye ol 1080 does it well on medium settings (of course).

Sadly UEFI is a bit of a mess on many systems. I have an old ASRock mobo that can't display it properly on anything other than a 1080 monitor. On my TV (hdmi) it's all fucked up and some of it is off the screen!?!.

That 4K display looks sweet. I think at some point I'll probably get another 4K monitor to replace my TV.

Thankfully the linux install went ok. Although I cloned my windows OS drive just in case. Now to spend forever and a day setting it up :D

You're the only TechJesus ;)

Yesterday night I discovered that my VR&HTPC (MSI Z370+GTX1080) doesn't display the UEFI if you connect it using DisplayPort or HDMI. It needs to be connected with DVI-D (to HDMI).
Fucking weird.

I had a tax break and they gave me a lot back, and yes I also had to pay a few bits, but I had enough to buy a new viewing box. I now got a 4K 120Hz monitor which is much MUCH better for gaming than the previous 1080p 50Hz tv. I do have the scaling set to 150% otherwise I can't read shit but so far the experience is, to quote Owen Wilson, "WOW".

So I ordered the drive yesterday evening and it was due to arrive on Monday, but somehow it turned up today at lunchtime!?!

About 6 hours later I've clones the old 2TB HDD on to the 4TB SSD and thankfully everything seems to be working correctly. Nice!

Just need to move a bunch of games off the second 1TB SSD and I'll be ready to install Linux Mint Cinnamon.

Good luck. Maybe sacrifice someone to Microsoft so it will go smoothly. ;)

I've decided to run a dual boot on laptop and to facilitate that I'm going to upgrade the 2TB HDD to a 4TB SSD (SATA). A Samsung 870 EVO 2.5" 4TB to be precise. This will give me a total of 6TB in my laptop as I also have 2x 1TB SSD (NVME). Both NVME SSD'd are Samsung 970 Evo's 1TB.

I'll have 1 NVME SSD for each OS, 1 windows and 1 linux, and then the 4TB will be mostly windows games and data but probably in time some overspill from linux too.

There will be a bit of juggling to move things around and keep my current install of windows and all my games and data so that I can install linux, but once that is done I'll probably reinstall windows but with none of the extra software I currently use so I can keep it lean for best gaming performance.

If nothing else it'll keep me busy for a little while XD

>>37224 finally. Black death seems more appropriate ;)
>>37222 had the same on my AMD 2200G system.

But it will black screen often :/

>>37218 For me as expected it just listed my CPU as currently unsupported but everything else was good.

Found this program on github to check specs https://github.com/rcmaehl/WhyNotWin11/

In my case I had to turn on PTT (Intel Platform Trust Technology) in the uefi.

I've seen people mention how to get around it currently but I've also seen people mention that it's likely MS will tighten that up in the official releases. It would probably still be possible to get around it but would likely require a crack and invalidate the licence.

I expect ultimately my 7th Gen Intel alienware will be supported as it has TPM2, Secure boot, UEFI etc, but I'm still not sure if I want to keep using windows for anything other than gaming.

I'm trying out ubuntu mate in a fullscreen vm in windows to do my productivity work and it's working well. I have space for another m.2 ssd in my laptop so I might get another one for a dual boot setup.

https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/06/28/update-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements/

https://allthings.how/how-to-install-windows-11-on-legacy-bios-without-secure-boot-or-tpm-2-0/

I think they might be 'testing the water' with this high spec to see what the reaction is like. I suspect we might see Win 11 work just fine on older machines but the newer security features won't be active. I think this is also part of the usual Intel & MS scam to force people to buy new hardware that they been doing for decades.

I see it mentioned in a few places that local accounts won't work on home edition Win11. All home edition PC's will need an MS account and a live internet connection!?! Looks like I'll have to get an OEM pro key for my alienware. Again though they threatened this with Win10 and then went back on it so we'll see how that turns out.

>>37196 Yeah I saw that. It looks like M$ will bite itself in the ass with that one. They'll get the same 'issues' with W10 as they did with XP/W7, people won't switch just because of the tmp/newer cpu requirement.

MS have announced that only newer cpus are supported on win11 (8thGen Intel and 2ng Gen AMD Ryzens upwards). It's not clear if older cpus will be supported eventually as they have stated that this list will evolve.

I saw a few days ago that TPM 2.0 is required but what's strange about that is that my Alienware laptop which has 7th Gen Intel does have TPM 2.0.

I don't really care if I get Win11 on this laptop or not but supporting only cpus from the last 3 years seems really strange to me. I guess things will become clearer in time...

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/windows-processor-requirements

Pretty sure it will be a free upgrade, it's just going to be the 21H2 update for Windows 10.

Dual boot is made difficult by MS sadly, dual boot for different versions of linux for example is easy. Gaming on linux is pointless even though more and more games can be run on it. Productivity apps on linux work great.

As you wrote >>37172 it will most likely be a free update for 10 users.

The horror I've experienced with Ubuntu and duel boot Windows prevents me from ever trying that again. And as has been said before some games/apps just don't like Linux (or the variations).

I just use open-source.

Some interesting news on the '**cough****pi**cough**rate**cough**' side of things...
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/newly-discovered-vigilante-malware-outs-software-pirates-and-blocks-them/

**cough****pi**cough**rate**cough**

Unless there is a total re-write of the file explorer (and therefore the desktop) I'm not really interested.

Fairly sure it's just going to be windows 10 with a new look, but it'll be the same old shit.
It's probably more of a marketing stunt than anything.

The only thing I've heard about that bothers me is that MS are going to add features that make it easier for software companies to monetise there applications. So sadly we might expect micro-transactions or annual/monthly subscriptions. Maybe even pay for each use!
Fuck that shit!