hi, I wanted to ask who of you did the update without reinstalling the operating system?
Did anything happen to your software? Did you have to reset anything or did everything work afterwards without any problems?
I have a lot of <kontact libraries, self registered Machine kits, endless vst's and so on.
My computer runs great and I don't want to reinstall and set up everything again.
All my hotkeys, Cubase user settings, library paths and so on.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Yes you are absolutely right but unfortunately the updates for win 10 will be discontinued in the fall and then at the latest it is either upgrade or Linux .
So for me personally this means that sooner or later I will be forced to switch to win 11

 

I'm still on Windows 10, but my system is the same from Windows 7 and it survived all upgrades with no versions skipped. The only issue that I've had were some VSTs needing activation again, that's all.

In my case, I plan on staying on 10 for the foreseeable future, 11 has too many annoyances I don't want to deal right now.

 

What do you think are the disadvantages of win 11 ?
Thanks for your answer

I have never used win 11 before, has it changed much except that it looks a bit different?

 

Windows 11 is well-made, fast, and stable. It's a bit different from Windows, but you get used to it pretty quickly. You do have to do some things yourself and configure them. It's very important that you run this program after installation, otherwise you'll run into serious problems:

O&O ShutUp10++:Free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11
www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Ways to install Windows 11
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-11-e0edbbfb-cfc5-4011-868b-2ce77ac7c70e

 

I upgraded from 10 to 11 on various machines.
Boot on 10, upgrade to 11 using Config panel -> microsoft update, it will upgrade to 11 while keeping everything as it, just like any other standard updates.
Then when in 11, keep in mind my that you can delete the c:\windows.old folder (which contains win 10) using disk cleaning tool built in windows. It gives back around 15 gigs of disk space.
11 doesnt install "over" 10 but create a new c:\windows folder, so you can even go back to 10 if shit happens ...

 

I work with lots of machines for several companies which developes diverse aspects of the industrial/economic/artistic production & as a partial-current conclussion I can say that Win 11 is still very buggy compared against Win 10 22H2 (which I still feel as the best Win platform achieved 'till now). I'm obviously talking from my own perspective, but I know that I'm not sooo wrong taking in count the words of countless posts around the www. About the Microsoft's end of support for Win 10..., well, we've suffered it previously but u still can find people around the world producin' some very valuable stuff from.... Win 7!!! I mean, is higly relative. I guess we'll have truely shockin' performance from some Win 11 build someday, but for now the current build reminds me to the terrible v1607 of Win 10.

 

I did this with no problems. YMMV

 

I changed motherboard, CPU & Memory, and had already done 2 motherboards with Win10 so it was time to purchase Win11.
All went smoothly, and I applied a few registry tweaks (from Win10 / Win11 Help Forums) for getting things back how i like them...
but not all was well, because they *ucked up the GUI even worse.
Some things could be fixed in settings (menu vertical spacing), but to get things really back to SPACE-EFFICIENT and fast, I found Windhawk.
Just a few of it's add-ons and It's actually better than before, although just a bit tight on vertical spacing for context submenus. On left is without Windhawk loaded - Right is with it loaded.
(Oh, and I use Open Shell for the old-school menu bar)

 

Last edited: May 1, 2025

Most people won't notice a difference, but I'm a power user, and they changed a bunch of small details of the system that just makes it slower to use while not really improving anything. Small things such as being unable to right click the taskbar and go straight to the task manager, easily changing the default browser, hiding stuff away from the context menu behind one more click, etc. Pretty much everything can be "fixed" with registry tweaks, but I'm not particularly dying to use Windows 11, so I'm staying behind for now.

 

anybody try the r2r Windows 14 update? Its supposed to have siri talking with amber about you while you are asking chatgpt questions.. The girls provide humiliation and ritual scorn, while your harddrive/ssd grinds itself to death.

a very satisfying Computer situation, that accomplishes nothing but burning time and money, like most computer shit these days. Windows 14, "Its the SHIT!!!" is the slogan, with a host of 3rd string rappers doing short videos ending in senseless violence to titilate the soul and get lots of TrickTalk views, etc.

yeah Windows 14


its the shit.....

 

That hidden old context menu can be had back with a reg setting as well.

Spoiler

Restore the old Context Menu in Windows 11
------------------------------------------------
Right-click the Start button and choose Windows Terminal.

Copy the command from below, paste it into Windows Terminal Window, and press enter.

reg.exe add "HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}\InprocServer32" /f /ve

Restart File Explorer or your computer for the changes to take effect.

But those morons at MS wish to make everything intelligence-neutral

 

EOL on Windows 10 is true, that's a fact. But if you don't care about the updates (as in, your computer is not connected to the net), and your system is fine then there's no need to upgrade. At some point new software will be Win11 only as they will deprecate the SDK support of new features for older Windowses.

That said, I've upgraded a few systems (including one of my own desktops) without reinstalling and it has worked fine. Some things had to be reauthorized but apart from that most things have been good. All the UI changes can be rolled back/improved with select options and software and all of the nu-bullshit (like Copilot etc.) can be disabled with ease.

Now, if you do any sort of development, use WSL, or deal with virtualized software then expect a lot of turbulence, that's all I'm going to say.

 

in a few years, Windows 11 will be end of life. Its a treadmill, the smart know how to get off of it, the rest enjoy spending their days upgrading and inserting cash into those who control the system. Its apparent, yet most can't see it. The force is strong in Microsoft/intel, it bends reality daily.

 

Just use whatever Windows version floats your boat. Regular Windows 10 will continue to receive ESU updates for several more years (there will be roll up releases by the community for non-ESU customers (or use TSForge to unlock ESU updates via Windows Update)). Windows 10 IoT will continue to receive security updates and bug fixes via Windows Update until at least 2032.

 

Most people see that either software gets updates or it's dead. Most people prefer their software updated. Yes, that's apparent, agreed.

It's great fun using old hardware and software, but sometimes you need tools that are not available for them. That much is true as well.

And don't get me started on Linux updates either, they're no better than anything that MS shits out. I know, I get paid for maintaining corporate Linux systems.

 

if I buy a hammer, and I can hammer nails, it is all I need to hammer nails.

the function of an operating system is to allow one to run application programs. Most of us use it for DAWS, and web surfing. some go a little further, and do spread sheets and word processing, or video editing, etc.

If we find a an application that functions well for us , there is no reason to constantly update the software or the operating system, other than manipulation by the software houses and hardware manufacturers to increase their revenue.

The benefit to the software/hardware companies far outweigh the benefits most of us receive for our time and effort of the constant treadmill.

A functioning machine can be kept functioning and providing the original benefits it provided on purchase with only minor inexpensive maintenance and care.

The point of our limited time in our days, is to create and use the software we have chosen, not to babysit and upgrade for unknown vapourware reasons - "now with more macros" - "XML compatible" - "unlimited undo's" etc.

my point is, there is no point in most upgrades if you are not in a corporate environment.
for a home user a working machine is a sunk cost, that doesn't need to become a boat (a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into)..

I've done corporate it, I was there when microsoft built the upgrade treadmill, I saw the construction of Certification for IT professionals, etc..

I know the difference between,what I need, and what they want you to think you need.

 

While I agree that companies are needlessly pushing for upgrades (for that is indeed the capitalist way, growth at all costs), most people only upgrade when shit breaks. Then they will purchase a new computer with new shit in it. It will happen organically, unless someone standardises things and sets them in stone where the new computer would be identical to the old one.

I also agree that corporations should not dictate standards, and advocate (and participate in) open standards. But the pace of those is not particularly fast. So we'll have to settle for a de facto corpostandard first and wait for an open version later (think file formats for instance). And at that point the hardware has evolved and support for older devices will happen either later (because of mindshare and domain knowledge for older systems), or never at all.

So unless we all think things were perfect at any given point with no reason to improve, things will move on. Some things will be done better, new things will be made possible, some things will be worse, and some things will atrophy to the point of useless obsolescence.

My personal concern is not with upgraded systems and software, it's upgraded systems and software used for bullshit. A couple of recent examples of explosive compute power increase would be cryptocurrency and generative AI models.

 

all valid points..

all things considered, I'd rather spend my computer time, using it for something creative, than installing upgrades and tweaking the hardware, which was made obsolete, so a corporation could sell more stuff I don't need.

But some folks, just love the keeping up with the joneses life. so we do what works best for ourselves

good luck.. on those upgrades. I measure my life by how few I do, and it feels pretty good.

I know you are not in the same situation, so appreciate your knowledge and understanding of the situation.