I haven't had any issues with the upgrade, including the use of peripheral devices.

Big hint ... the 'Start' menu button is no longer on the far left of the screen, it's at the left of the icons in the middle of the task bar (blue button with 4 little squares). But iirc there's a setting to move the centered icons to the left, ala Windows 10. I got used to it where it is and it's actually better.

Also note that when you click the start button, the list of 'pinned' apps is scrollable (I use my mouse wheel). And to find 'All Apps' there's a button at the upper right of the Start Menu.



Honestly this is the biggest change. Allow some time to adjust and you'll be fine with it pretty quickly I'll bet.

And I'm glad it is a dedicated use unit that isn't my everyday laptop with WIN10. I don't really like it. But the dedicated one has a large, awkward program that is new to me so keeping all that in one place works for me.

I'll keep this one with WIN10 for my everyday use and deal with the OS that I don't like for the specific use unit.

I disliked 10 from the start and stayed years late with Win 8.

I liked 11 since its inception.

I am annoyed that I cannot install 11 on some of my older computers due to Microsoft's requirements of only allowing 11 to run on recently made processors.

Always make a backup of your data before doing a drastic upgrade.

Good luck.

Not kidding. 8.1 on a 2008 laptop.

Max out your RAM

Not sure if my Lenovo is worth trying to save. If all it needs is RAM, it would be worth it.

What is the model of your computer? I pretty much tell anyone that they should have at least 8GB of RAM if they are running Windows 10. As long as you have a compatible processor, upgrading to ten will be worth it, if you want to hold off on getting a new Windows 11 machine. But you do have to check compatibility with your specific computer.

You can go to the Lenovo support site and see if it has any updated info on your computer's compatibility with 10.

I think there are issues with it - it replaces some things on drop down menus with buttons and symbols that you have to hover over to figure out what they are. So that may be an issue, especially if don't really do keyboard shortcuts. For instance, it took me a little bit to figure out how to copy a file and then paste it to another location. (I can't recall if the keyboard shortcut for copy and paste worked in that instance).

It does seem to load faster than 10, but I also have it for the first time on a SSD drive, so hard for me to say for sure if it's just the SSD.

I'd say it's definitely better than what Windows 8 was.

setting up Edge

It can slow a not-the-most-up-to-date-computer. Windows 10 ran great on my Thinkpad X250 (from 2015)- I had maxed the RAM out to 16GB. Windows 11 turned this very capable machine into sludge.

One of things that really irk me is a lot of programs run in "emulated" mode- that is, they are not native Windows 11 apps. Funky things can happen with emulated apps. Notepad *was* one of these apps (I don't know if a native 11 one has been developed- maybe it has). It would crash unexpectedly and erase recent changes that I had saved. Not a good thing.

Also if you look at the emulated apps, the menus and titles look slightly fuzzy. I find it super annoying.

One day we won't be able to hold out and we'll probably have to buy newer, more powerful machines to run Windows. Planned obsolescence.

I never really embraced the digital. It confounds me no end.

What browser are you using. Depending on the computer you mayy be able to upgrade to 10 for free.

You might have to update some software, but at least you'd be able to run Chrome and get updates.

...it's that I don't know how. I called a computer service to transfer to a new Windows 11 computer, but was met with such contempt & ridicule for being old & stupid that I gave up. I'll have to try again.

Don't worry about transferring anything over yet. Just set up the new one and start using it. Get a computer with the pro version of the OS so you don't have to create a Microsoft account to set it up.

Go to a different place if you want them to set up the computer for you. They should not treat you rudely. Have your online accounts ready. Mainly your email account. I recommend using a Google account with the Chrome browser.

Where do you live? There might be a volunteer group that can do the set up for you in your home?

Maybe do a google search new computer set up service for Seniors.

You can then take your time transferring over any old files once you get the hang of it.

I know it's time to move on this but it's all so baffling. It's like trying to understand a different language.

My brother the computer know-nothing got tired of every windows patch or update killing his peripherals, so he had to re-install drivers regularly. He threw in the towel and got an Ubuntu Linux system from Dell, fully supported.

He rarely needs new programs, but I point him, and others, to excellent apps for photo management, image processing, word processing and on and on.

He has no need for "niche" software though most windows apps will probably run with Crossover or the free version, called WINE, that emulates Windows. With highly advanced virtualization these days, you can run most anything on most anything.

Depends on how much or little you like the OS vendor nagging you and making unwelcome decisions for you.

Good news is that he never bugs me these days for anything.

I have run and installed Knoppix from DVD media via a USB optical drive. They are so generic that a used one or a loaner will boot up pretty much any system. 9.1 is the latest release. And you can order a DVD shipped (MS won't do that!) for as little as $1.95 worldwide or a thumb drive for as little as $14.95. Download is free, but you have to copy to media
USB drive: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-burn-an-iso-file-to-a-usb-drive-2619270
DVD drive: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-burn-an-iso-image-file-to-a-dvd-2626156

Mint is great. I installed it on many low-end PC's. Recommended for low-memory and disk computers.

There were some instances early on where Bitlocker was turned on by default after the upgrade. I would also check pre-installed Windows 11.