9 ms·

I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements. Try spinning Windows 7 up in a VM sometime. Using i

I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements. Try spinning Windows 7 up in a VM sometime. Using it is such a wonderous experience. It's almost perfect. I miss it so much. To me, Windows 8/8.1/10/11 have all been massive downgrades to different extents.

mopsi 4y ago
You can have at least Win 7 start menu on Win 10: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu It's fast, reliable and highly configurable.
- notRobot 4y ago
  I know and I do use it! Unfortunately there's lots more to the OS than the start menu, that can't be changed :(
- nulld3v 4y ago
  Do you know if there's something similar but for the task bar? I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. The design? Whatever, I can live with that. But it constantly refuses to unhide, it drives me crazy.
  - stevesimmons 4y ago
    > I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. Plus in Win 11, we lost the ability to put the taskbar vertically on the left or right side of the screen. When coding on a laptop, I want the max vertical screen space. Taskbar at the bottom means I see 10% less source code. Boo Win11!
  - iflp 4y ago
    StartAllBack
  - emeril 4y ago
    I use open shell and 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-tweaker https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-tweaker) + also disable all pinned apps and reenable quick launch - this makes it look like win7/XP pretty closely (though I also disable windows updates so it doesn't get reverted randomly)
herodoturtle 4y ago
Loved this comment. There was a time when we used to say the same about Windows Xp. And Windows 2000. I wonder if each next generation of user prefers the new layouts each time? I’m sure (or at least, I imagine) MS put a lot of resources into testing these UI overhauls.
- spikej 4y ago
  Heck I still say that about Windows 2000. Clean, minimal interface, with all the power options easily available.
- WaxProlix 4y ago
  XP was fine. 2000 was good. Nobody pines for Windows ME. People said those things and they meant it. Windows 8-11 feel pretty bad, overall. 7 was okay.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    XP was fine because you could throw it into 2000 mode, though looking back the fisher-price UI was just the UI. Windows Vista wasn't terrible if you had a beefy machine and well-supported hardware. 7 was basically Vista but with newer machines and better hardware support. 8+ has been meh.
    - midoridensha 4y ago
      IMO, Vista was actually the best-looking Windows of all time.
  - emodendroket 4y ago
    The Windows 2000 UI was not "good," at least compared to what they have today.
    - hyperman1 4y ago
      Personally, I consider 2000 the version where windows peaked. They did add some good things since then, but did more damage than good in total. So as we differ this clearly in opinion: What makes you appreciate the windows UI more today?
encryptluks2 4y ago
I don't notice much difference between experience in Windows 7 and Windows 11, aside from needing to manage more policies to prevent their cloud based services. Windows 11 isn't bad if you disable the adware portion. The terminal app is pretty good now and WSL works, albeit not as pleasant as something more native like Linux or even macOS terminal, but the adware is what cripples it IMO.
- devmor 4y ago
  The terminal app and functional WSL are both available in Windows 10, though. 11 didn't add either of those.
  - encryptluks2 4y ago
    Windows 11 adds other features that are useful though. I agree, Windows 10 is sufficient but if you know what policies to use then Windows 11 feels pretty much like Windows 10 with some new features.
  - vetinari 4y ago
    In 11, the terminal app can be set as default console app, so you won't see conhost.exe, ever. That's not possible in 10.
    - devmor 4y ago
      That's a very marginal improvement, since the only time you'd see conhost in 10 now is when a program explicitly launches it.
      - vetinari 4y ago
        and when you launch any random .bat file.
        devmor 4y ago
        Or you just change your default program for batch files.
Synaesthesia 4y ago
Personally I like Windows 11 fine except I want my taskbar on the side.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  My biggest gripe is they finally removed the option to have windows not combined with labels in the taskbar. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
  - devmor 4y ago
    That is the biggest feature stopping me from upgrading. I generally have 20-30 windows open, usually 4 or 5 browser windows with tabs grouped by what I'm doing with them. Combined labels would destroy my workflow.
  - HKH2 4y ago
    It's pretty clear they're moving towards MacOS.
- xboxnolifes 4y ago
  Right click taskbar > taskbar settings > taskbar behavior > taskbar alignment: Left
  - _l4jh 4y ago
    This functionality was removed in Windows 11 and as far as I know has not yet returned.
    - xboxnolifes 4y ago
      I literally went through those steps in order to write that comment. The functionality is not gone.
      - _l4jh 4y ago
        Are you talking about aligning the icons to the left or the whole taskbar? We're talking about moving the whole taskbar to the left (or right) of the screen similar to how Ubuntu looks for example. You used to be able to move the taskbar to any edge of the screen but that functionality was removed in Windows 11.
WaxProlix 4y ago
How much money, exactly? I feel similarly, but when I start to probe that idea, it tops out at some point...
wlesieutre 4y ago
I thought Windows 8 was pretty good at the time, in hindsight because I had a Surface Pro and that was the computer that it was entirely designed for. Their three-column splitscreen layout was neat, if you could look past only having about 5 of the newfangled-touchscreen-UI-apps worth installing in the entire store. Or if you treated the OS as mostly being a OneNote launcher. These days I'm inclined to agree with you. Windows 7 was the peak, newer versions have gone far downhill with trying to make me accidentally open Bing everywhere and automatically installing Candy Crush products that no one asked for. When this computer dies, decent odds I replace it with a Steam Deck. Doubly so if they can stuff Thunderbolt into the next one and sell me a GPU dock with it. But someone made the Bing metrics go up for a few years, so surely that's worth burning any customer goodwill to the ground.
- 8note 4y ago
  The drawing app that shipped with windows 8 and early windows 10 was also fantastic on a surface -- it's a pity that it's gon
- midoridensha 4y ago
  Why does customer goodwill matter at all? Even if they make everyone absolutely hate using Windows, what are customers going to do, switch to a different OS? Decades of experience has shown that people will whine and complain endlessly about Windows, that this is the last straw, and how they're going to switch to Linux "real soon now", and they never do.
  - wlesieutre 4y ago
    These days? They won’t lose all their business users immediately, but the shitty $300 laptops with 15” 1366x768 displays are being chipped away at by iPads and Chromebooks, and the less shitty laptops could mostly be replaced by a MacBook Air which is a frighteningly capable computer. I do think making their OS worse is accelerating this.
8note 4y ago
I for one, couldn't go back to a laptop without a touch screen, and for current purposes, Id be unhappy without the pen input to go with the multi touch. While the UIs look bad, the touch and pen UX together in windows 10 is fantastic
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
agumonkey 4y ago
early windows 10 had enough of win7 simplicity, but yeah i agree, 7 left a nice taste in everybody's mind
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kasabali 4y ago
> I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements Windows 8.1 complemented with StartIsBack (https://www.startisback.com/ https://www.startisback.com/) was exactly what you're looking for. Unfortunately Windows 8.1 is very soon to be EOL and Windows 10 is unrecoverable even with StartIsBack.
npteljes 4y ago
Win XP sp3 was also great, usability-wise. I'm not paying them shit though. For the gaming system I use, I'm running my own activation emulator and point the system there.
namaria 4y ago
Windows 7 was the last MS operating system I've used on a personal computer of mine. Once I did some work for a local ad tech company, they dictated I should use a windows computer for work. I discovered the hell of WSL and lasted about 12 weeks on that gig. The fact that I had to train tech leads on Git and was having arguments about "pushing directly to production is bad, we should have a staging environment at the very least" did not help.

mopsi 4y ago

You can have at least Win 7 start menu on Win 10: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu It's fast, reliable and highly configurable.

notRobot 4y ago
I know and I do use it! Unfortunately there's lots more to the OS than the start menu, that can't be changed :(
nulld3v 4y ago
Do you know if there's something similar but for the task bar? I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. The design? Whatever, I can live with that. But it constantly refuses to unhide, it drives me crazy.
- stevesimmons 4y ago
  > I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. Plus in Win 11, we lost the ability to put the taskbar vertically on the left or right side of the screen. When coding on a laptop, I want the max vertical screen space. Taskbar at the bottom means I see 10% less source code. Boo Win11!
- iflp 4y ago
  StartAllBack
- emeril 4y ago
  I use open shell and 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-tweaker https://ramensoftware.com/7-taskbar-tweaker) + also disable all pinned apps and reenable quick launch - this makes it look like win7/XP pretty closely (though I also disable windows updates so it doesn't get reverted randomly)

herodoturtle 4y ago

Loved this comment. There was a time when we used to say the same about Windows Xp. And Windows 2000. I wonder if each next generation of user prefers the new layouts each time? I’m sure (or at least, I imagine) MS put a lot of resources into testing these UI overhauls.

spikej 4y ago
Heck I still say that about Windows 2000. Clean, minimal interface, with all the power options easily available.
WaxProlix 4y ago
XP was fine. 2000 was good. Nobody pines for Windows ME. People said those things and they meant it. Windows 8-11 feel pretty bad, overall. 7 was okay.
- bombcar 4y ago
  XP was fine because you could throw it into 2000 mode, though looking back the fisher-price UI was just the UI. Windows Vista wasn't terrible if you had a beefy machine and well-supported hardware. 7 was basically Vista but with newer machines and better hardware support. 8+ has been meh.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    IMO, Vista was actually the best-looking Windows of all time.
- emodendroket 4y ago
  The Windows 2000 UI was not "good," at least compared to what they have today.
  - hyperman1 4y ago
    Personally, I consider 2000 the version where windows peaked. They did add some good things since then, but did more damage than good in total. So as we differ this clearly in opinion: What makes you appreciate the windows UI more today?

encryptluks2 4y ago

I don't notice much difference between experience in Windows 7 and Windows 11, aside from needing to manage more policies to prevent their cloud based services. Windows 11 isn't bad if you disable the adware portion. The terminal app is pretty good now and WSL works, albeit not as pleasant as something more native like Linux or even macOS terminal, but the adware is what cripples it IMO.

devmor 4y ago
The terminal app and functional WSL are both available in Windows 10, though. 11 didn't add either of those.
- encryptluks2 4y ago
  Windows 11 adds other features that are useful though. I agree, Windows 10 is sufficient but if you know what policies to use then Windows 11 feels pretty much like Windows 10 with some new features.
- vetinari 4y ago
  In 11, the terminal app can be set as default console app, so you won't see conhost.exe, ever. That's not possible in 10.
  - devmor 4y ago
    That's a very marginal improvement, since the only time you'd see conhost in 10 now is when a program explicitly launches it.
    - vetinari 4y ago
      and when you launch any random .bat file.
      - devmor 4y ago
        Or you just change your default program for batch files.

Synaesthesia 4y ago

Personally I like Windows 11 fine except I want my taskbar on the side.

emodendroket 4y ago
My biggest gripe is they finally removed the option to have windows not combined with labels in the taskbar. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
- devmor 4y ago
  That is the biggest feature stopping me from upgrading. I generally have 20-30 windows open, usually 4 or 5 browser windows with tabs grouped by what I'm doing with them. Combined labels would destroy my workflow.
- HKH2 4y ago
  It's pretty clear they're moving towards MacOS.
xboxnolifes 4y ago
Right click taskbar > taskbar settings > taskbar behavior > taskbar alignment: Left
- _l4jh 4y ago
  This functionality was removed in Windows 11 and as far as I know has not yet returned.
  - xboxnolifes 4y ago
    I literally went through those steps in order to write that comment. The functionality is not gone.
    - _l4jh 4y ago
      Are you talking about aligning the icons to the left or the whole taskbar? We're talking about moving the whole taskbar to the left (or right) of the screen similar to how Ubuntu looks for example. You used to be able to move the taskbar to any edge of the screen but that functionality was removed in Windows 11.

WaxProlix 4y ago

How much money, exactly? I feel similarly, but when I start to probe that idea, it tops out at some point...

wlesieutre 4y ago

I thought Windows 8 was pretty good at the time, in hindsight because I had a Surface Pro and that was the computer that it was entirely designed for. Their three-column splitscreen layout was neat, if you could look past only having about 5 of the newfangled-touchscreen-UI-apps worth installing in the entire store. Or if you treated the OS as mostly being a OneNote launcher. These days I'm inclined to agree with you. Windows 7 was the peak, newer versions have gone far downhill with trying to make me accidentally open Bing everywhere and automatically installing Candy Crush products that no one asked for. When this computer dies, decent odds I replace it with a Steam Deck. Doubly so if they can stuff Thunderbolt into the next one and sell me a GPU dock with it. But someone made the Bing metrics go up for a few years, so surely that's worth burning any customer goodwill to the ground.

8note 4y ago
The drawing app that shipped with windows 8 and early windows 10 was also fantastic on a surface -- it's a pity that it's gon
midoridensha 4y ago
Why does customer goodwill matter at all? Even if they make everyone absolutely hate using Windows, what are customers going to do, switch to a different OS? Decades of experience has shown that people will whine and complain endlessly about Windows, that this is the last straw, and how they're going to switch to Linux "real soon now", and they never do.
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  These days? They won’t lose all their business users immediately, but the shitty $300 laptops with 15” 1366x768 displays are being chipped away at by iPads and Chromebooks, and the less shitty laptops could mostly be replaced by a MacBook Air which is a frighteningly capable computer. I do think making their OS worse is accelerating this.

8note 4y ago

I for one, couldn't go back to a laptop without a touch screen, and for current purposes, Id be unhappy without the pen input to go with the multi touch. While the UIs look bad, the touch and pen UX together in windows 10 is fantastic

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

agumonkey 4y ago

early windows 10 had enough of win7 simplicity, but yeah i agree, 7 left a nice taste in everybody's mind

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

kasabali 4y ago

> I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements Windows 8.1 complemented with StartIsBack (https://www.startisback.com/ https://www.startisback.com/) was exactly what you're looking for. Unfortunately Windows 8.1 is very soon to be EOL and Windows 10 is unrecoverable even with StartIsBack.

npteljes 4y ago

Win XP sp3 was also great, usability-wise. I'm not paying them shit though. For the gaming system I use, I'm running my own activation emulator and point the system there.

namaria 4y ago

Windows 7 was the last MS operating system I've used on a personal computer of mine. Once I did some work for a local ad tech company, they dictated I should use a windows computer for work. I discovered the hell of WSL and lasted about 12 weeks on that gig. The fact that I had to train tech leads on Git and was having arguments about "pushing directly to production is bad, we should have a staging environment at the very least" did not help.