My suggestion is Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Superlite

 

Really miss what exactly?

 

• It is too fast
• Its problems are almost zero.
• There are no fatal software errors.
• If you don't use your computer for 1 year and just hibernate it, you can run your programs without problems every time it starts.
• After installing Windows, the hardware drivers are installed by Windows itself in the best possible way, and you don't need to install even one driver manually. If your hardware is very old, there is no problem after installing Windows and it installs everything optimally.
• Almost all low version software can be installed without problem.
• You can easily install new software that can only be installed on new versions of Windows without worrying about whether or not a certain software will be installed.
• Due to the optimization done on this Windows, its speed is almost faster than other Windows.
• Better management of your HDD is performed and you will see almost no locking and hanging of your computer.

Of course, the only condition I have is that you use the LITE version of this Windows. Versions produced by experienced people.

 

GhostSpectre has new 24H2 (preview) builds, I'd gladly recommend specifically W11 LTSC (24H2-based) once it's released and optimized (in the end of 2024 hopefully)

Windows 11 is not worse than Windows 10,
once you remove annoyances like Defender and OneDrive, it's a solid system with most dependencies preinstalled,
AI crap is matter of platform optimization, I can accelerate all AI workloads on my old GTX1080Ti so my cpu idles mostly,
O365 is overrated, but I wouldn't bother going back to 2019 or other mediocre alternatives,
AI crap, just like anything else, can be disabled or even carved out of Windows itself - sure it's annoyance, but not complication enough to justify staying on (solid) 3 years old Windows 10 LTSC anymore

 

Sorry, I think that is BS. Which plugins that work in Win 8 and don't in Win 10? I don't know even one. The plugins from around 2000 work flawlessly. All. Maybe you should use a real DAW, REAPER for instance.

 

The mickeysoft OS's (post winXP) aren't nearly as much the problem as is the tons of disassociated garbage they load into them. Which is why when anyone talks about running win11 I will never recommend an OEM version for a build. Ghost-Spectre builds are the best thing going combined with the VL script to activate 'em. If you're comfortable with hacking the shit out of an OEM build it is possible to make a "lite" version from the OEM bits but it is a painstaking process.

I wouldn't get my hopes up about subsequent mickeysoft OS versions being "better". It's well documented all their shit after winXP has gotten orders of magnitude more junk-ware piled into them with each increase in version. Win11 was testament to this and I'm certain with every version number increase there will be exponentially more trash-ware to have to deal with.

Correct. The win updater sees to this task most effectively. Leave that POS win-updater service turned on, allowing it to do whatever it wants, and you will most assuredly find shit broken, reinstalled, and any user defense measures taken to eliminate telemetry and spyware communication completely reversed after a single update session. The only defense the user has against this practice is to turn that shit OFF completely and apply updates MANUALLY and only when needed. The amount of complete and utter junk that they load onto your machine every "patch tuesday" is about 99.9% UN-NEEDED.

Correct again! Mickeysoft has been doing this since win95. They make press releases that evoke the next apocalypse will visit the world unless everyone upgrades to the next version. The "end of support" dates are there to ensure the masses will comply when there is really no need to listen to their garbage at all. They are obligated to FIX and maintain any major security/operational issues that come down the pike even well after their proclaimed "EOS" dates...

 

Last edited: Jul 26, 2024

Nah, hardly...Different maybe, but better only marginally. There's nothing there that would compel me to up root a perfectly working optimized win10 GS build.

Missed? Missed what exactly?

Most assuredly install a "lite" version, unless you're adept and have the time to hack a "lite" version out of an OEM build. FYI, if those lite "famous makers" are charging $$ for their ISO's, kick them to the curb - hard. I would not recommend them. Ghost-Spectre ISO's are free (you can donate if you want) and do not come with "baggage".

 

FBConan 's builds are awesome. There are other builds from other people too but this guy's builds are super.
Just go to teamos website --> Operating Systems ---> Windows 11 (x64). There are lots of ISOs provided via torrent. If you couldn't download from there just copy the name of that ISO and search it on Google or Yandex for mirrors. Currently one of LITE versions of this guy's builds has been installed on my system and in this last year I have not had any problem with it, literally nothing.

 

Thanks for the good laugh.. I enjoyed that

Now though, read through what I said again and show me anywhere I mentioned win8 :-

"Personally? I kept my Win7 setup as there are so many plugins that will not work with win 10/11 and just took an old computer box and built it with newer components for win 10.
I will not part with the win 7 machine as it's taken far too long to get it setup just the way I want it.

My advice? If there is any way you can keep both, I'd say do that!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that that's been cleared that up, go back and read 3/4 of the way down on the previous page, and you will see my issue has been discussed and resolved by @taskforce.

 

Last edited: Jul 27, 2024

I did that some years ago and found that most tweaks and tricks worked for win 10 as well.
use the ltsc version, way less hassle.
As some are mentioning, it could be a good idea to switch to win 11 now. there already is
a public test version of win 11 ltsc, so I guess release is some weeks or months away.
Might be worth waiting for.

 

Microsoft will stop providing technical support and security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. I'm presently using Windows 10 for workstations with two HP's 8 cores, one HP 10 cores and one DELL 12 cores - I do video, audio as well as graphics and Win 10 is running as fast as lighting. No problems at all. I've tried WIN 11, but personally I'm not happy with it. I'll wait until October 2025 and then I"ll make a switch, since many developers at that point will start running notices that they'll only support Win 11 (it's the same old Microsoft story).

 

Hmmm ok... i thought i 'd stay out of this, but i get itchy
I hope the admins will be tolerant with me. As i will write a not so anonymous open letter to MS:
"Fuck Windows 11. And fuck Win 10 and 8.1 and 8 as well. And fuck you Microsoft, which you 've grown to nurture a gazillion of high salary lazy motherfuckers who pray (by means of internal company scheming and kissing ass on the brass) on the few but real programming talents inside that company.
Where is my modern file system you fucks? Where is my native Thunderbolt and Dante/AVB support? Where is my native low latency audio? Where the fuck are instant ghost transfers in my "all-ssd" pc?
Oh i am sorry, did i confuse your Windows OS for MacOs? Errr... no i did not you morons. We have been waiting for EONS you assholes. And all you 've been able to do, you lame excuses for humans, is unsuccessfully change the start menu a bunch of times to a gimmick and adding more to the confusion, have two control panels instead of one. But hey you got support for ssds! Like you could do otherwise you stupid lot.
Oh i know what's new. Forgive me. Android games compatibility - hooray! Yeah this is what the world needs now. More ads yes, give 'em to me i love them. More telemetry and violation of the primary human right to privacy. Now coming to a pc near you with co-pilot AI boost so the bot can spy on us better. "
...
But like some guy(s) said a few years back in this very forum who cares, right?
So, coming back to the thread after ranting. Guys... What is the purpose of upgrading to a new OS when it includes zero new technologies? It doesn't take a genius to answer this, right?
ULX says about a Win11 Lite build:

Bro. If your hardware is very old, Win11 doesn't support it. Your comp might be able to run it perfectly but no updates to what matters. And if you don't care about updates why the hell update from win10 to 11 in the first place. I mean let's see. If your win11 build is from 6 months ago, 6 months later your OS build will be 1 year old and my win10 will be up to date. And if you mean to keep your "creative workhorse" pc offline why upgrade to Win11. Oh i know. Because its the newest and bestest from our friends at Megahard err sorry Microsoft. And because we, as the smart pirates we are, we go Windows 11 and Lite because we can because

Errr... NOPE. It's not. Anyone serious enough about producing music on a computer in 2024 has at least a six core cpu and 32 gb of ram. Freeing your system of annoying background services doesn't make your comp faster. It makes your OS less sluggish if and only if, your hardware is at or near the minimum requirements. And what are these. Ms says 1GHz cpu and 4 gb ram. AliG says "4 real..." What on earth has TPM 2.0 (prerequisite for Win11) and is 1ghz with 4 gb of ram. Oh i know - nothing! But let's play along, try running any version of Win11 - Lite or not in such a system and get a bsod in fucking Solitaire like you are back to Win 3.1 lol.
Let's see some real world examples, a 1300 euros, 2023 Win11 laptop from Dell which i had in my hands last week, comes with 16gb of ram and blimey about 12 gigs or more, were constantly used by all the bloatware that it came with. Open Photoshop (original) to be greeted with an "insufficient memory" error message haha. No wonder why i got clients for pc problems... Tsskk tskkk tskk Dell. Yes there are people there who make this. And want you to buy it. Just like Microsoft.
Now on the other hand my third pc (in terms of horsepower), a 6700K with 64gb of ddr4 and a Samsung nvme SSD, ran in testing the latest vanilla Win11 and booted the OS in 5-6 secs. On Cubase test it ran 99% identically to Win10. So much for unsupported hardware hahaha. But hey, as said earlier no updates.
Anyway, this should mean that going Lite is more of a preference for those who give a fuck about annoying services like telemetry and the likes as a matter of principal, not as a matter of system performance. Because comps nowadays can be very very fast and poor ol' Windows isn't on par with this, hence the mandatory hardware requirement they came up with is bullshit with a capital B, as i just demonstrated with my 9 year old 6700K pc. Fucking hang them in the center of the village for everyone to see and enjoy.
What else let's see.. This one's great:

Meh... Why 1 year. Make it 10 years. Because we build comps to hibernate them for when the 3rd WW starts. Not work and play. And all this is possible because of the Win11 Lite build not of Windows built-in cashing technology since Windows Vista, right? ...
Awesome... all is left now is, i make a Lite version of meself and hibernate for 50 years and boot my brain instantly... Does it work ? Hell yeah, i just woke up in the future yesterday, fuck you Ridley Scott, i'm off to find Prometheus in 500000 years.

And a little later you realize your Nvidia driver is not up to date, your Thunderbolt driver doesn't work, your Ethernet is just slower than supposed in all cases and your built-in audio driver is outdated, to name just a few, i can go on for ages. And what is "the best possible way" man. There is only one way to install drivers and everyone old enough to this know this simple fact: Installing the correct driver and installing what MS thinks is the correct one is NOT the same thing. Get it?

You lost me here. Which one is that software that can only be installed in Windows 11 and got you worried...
I mean, MS has deliberately lost the race to a really speedy OS in favor of backwards compatibility. Win 10 is not Win 7, with all the 95% bad and 5% good that this sentence comes with. And Win11 is virtually identical to Win10 (one exception i can think of is Group policies), any changes are for most part cosmetic, that is look and UI.

Sure. The only fatal error here is us running Windows.

Hmmm... Now you got me thinking here. I mean since my H(ard) D(isk) D(rive) will have better management in Win11, i wonder if my F(loppy) D(isk) will have better management too. I have Doom 1.666 i 've been dying to replay.
Now jokes aside, if you really meant HDD you are wrong. There is nothing new to Win11 in terms of hard drive management. And i bet running Win11 on a hard drive will be a really stressful experience unless it is the latest and greatest and again it will be obviously slower than any ssd.
Now if you meant SSD, i am sorry but again you are wrong. There are a couple of refinements(?) in the way fetching and caching works in Win11 but this is mostly for laptops which people tend to put to sleep instead of shutdown.
And why the hell should i see "locking and hanging of my computer". Oh i know, because i haven't upgraded to Win 11 yet .
Dam son. I mean, get your facts straight and pretty please, when you talk about experienced people, beware that there some here too.
Cheers

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2024

What do you want to do with OS's minor updates? Are they effective in your workflow and meeting the needs of customers?

 

You have answered your own question already my friend, upgrading to Win11 is just a minor OS update. MS could easily roll the whole lot out as a Service Pack of sorts and call it Win 10.1 but they always want more money. So there we are with Win11 and the stupid start menu in the middle of your screen because new users might not find it in the corner. How brilliant hahaha.
PS: Updates are not minor. At least not all the time. For MS at least once every three months there is a major update pack with fixes, feats etc. For online computers even minor updates can be crucial.

 

Absolutely true. Windows 11 is in fact nothing but Windows 8.3
While there were useful changes in the driver achitecture and graphics processing from Win 7 to Win 8, since Windows 8 its basically the same OS. Problem with MS is that they're not an OS company any more. They're a cloud/workgroup/employee surveillance company with an money wasting AI black hole added.
I lately played a little with nobora, quite a nice fedora distribution.
But no matter what hoops I jump through, I most definitely will not get Pro Tools to work in wine (no I can't use Ardour, as long as the other kids won't use it).
OSX is not an option for me. I hate that company even more than MS.
Rich kids walled playground.
Its sad where we are going. Everything is becoming an online service, rentals without ownership....
Yeah its old man yelling at cloud, I don't care.

 

The main reason I upgraded my Windows to Windows 11 was because a lot of software works on Windows 10 or 11. Windows updates are not crucial that could have a special effect on the overall performance of Windows, most of the main core of Windows is the same as provided in the initial version, and there are no surprising changes with the Windows update.
I emphasize all the things I said before. Windows 11 is better than all the Windows offered by Microsoft, and I don't think its ability to update is less than the previous Windows. If you install one of the light versions that I mentioned, you will make better use of your Windows and you will have the updates.
If you are worried about the start menu, the Lite version that I mentioned automatically installs the alternative menu and you can use it as the start menu like version 7.

PS:
You can find the rebuilt Windows from windowsxlite. This guy is genius in windows optimization.

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2024

You hit a nerve here matey. At least for me. I am very comfortable with MacOS and Live/Logic/Cubase/Pro Tools. MacOS in its current state is still way too far ahead of Windows in terms of supporting the correct hardware that pros and enthusiasts use out of the box. But, i hate their machines plus the company's expensive lifestyle approach to hardware.
I do have a Mac background although it is a lifetime away. I was one of the few heretics that made the jump to pc back in '98 when Apple was regaining a piece of the lost pie with the return of the late Steve Jobs. And that's because i love open end hardware and I hate restrictions. I already knew my way around DOS and Windows installations because i had office and gaming interests as well, so we always had pcs in my old record label premises. It took me only two years of messing with hardware to start building top end machines and my studio clients were constantly asking me "this is great, where did you buy it" and i remember seeing their faces gobsmacked when i was telling them i built those. So it soon became a secondary income for me and it has been going on 'till today. I must have built over 500 Windows pcs and about 30-40 Hackintosh machines when it was still relevant. But nobody -and i say this with great disappointment- has asked me for a Linux build. Ever. Linux is plagued by its own freedom. When there is very little money to gain or none at all, things move slow in the tech world. Or they stand to a halt. By my own -tiny in magnitude- example in comp builds you can easily see and interpret why PT doesn't work in Linux. The morons in AVID/ex-Digidesign should have made the jump to Linux 20 years back or more. And everybody else in the music industry tbh. But nooo, Linux is bad for their pockets.
I do mess from time to time with Linux distros, so i keep myself entertained and learn something new, it is very nice to hear about Nobora which i wasn't aware of, left to my own (Windows) devices hahaha. I will check it out, thank you for bringing it up.
All the best
PS: I will never forget how MS killed the most promising ever BeOS. They were around since '95. The moment they stepped into X86 land, it only took MS 3 years to shut down the whole thing. Fucking misanthropes lol.

This little history of mine was indirectly also for my friend @ULX : Matey, i 've nothing against you really. I did tear down your whole post but i was mostly joking although my jokes do have a hidden bittersweet truth coming from a 40 years experience with serious computing. Old techy fart you see. So, considering where you are, you gotta know this one lil thingie. I make my own custom builds both soft and hardware. I am here to correctly inform and subdue false informers as well. Hence the nick you see. Believe it or not, i have every piece of info and knowledge needed to make my own Lite versions, plus i can have great help in polishing a messy build and ironing out inconsistencies, some of my best friends are also great engineers and in reverse as well. And i 'm not talking car engineers if you know what i mean. But you see, peeps are lazy. Especially comp guys. If peeps here asked for a taskforce WinLite version, i 'd honestly try to give 'em one especially made for audio, which i believe has no precedent. But they never did, so i never bothered because i am -with no exception to the rest- a lazy sod too lol. And with the number of Lite versions lying around it would probably be a fool's errand.
You be well mate.
PS: There are some people with MS who are gifted and give back as well. Pete Brown is one of them. Here's an interesting and informative read from '21 that still applies nicely:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/wind...dio-workstation-build-and-tweak-guide-part-1/
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/wind...dio-workstation-build-and-tweak-guide-part-2/
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/wind...dio-workstation-build-and-tweak-guide-part-3/

EDIT: I wasn't aware that this vid also existed:

 

Last edited: Aug 5, 2024