It has been nearly 4 years since Home windows 11 got here out, and it nonetheless feels prefer it’s in beta. Now that Microsoft has completely botched the discharge of Home windows 11, I miss some outdated options of Home windows 7 and XP greater than ever. I wager you will relate to at the least one.
Aero Glass
I choose the design language of macOS to Home windows in just about each iteration, besides one. The Aero Glass design language, which Home windows Vista launched, and Home windows 7 perfected, was peak of the Home windows aesthetic.
Following the brilliant and plasticky “Luna” theme of Home windows XP, the Aero Glass felt fashionable and contemporary. It fully rebuilt the appear and feel of Home windows with a clear and ethereal interface.
The Frutiger Aero period welcome display and the fuzzy factors of sunshine that converged into the Home windows emblem with that serene startup sound. Considering again, nearly each sound impact and chime in Home windows 7 had that soothing high quality.
The very first thing you seen after a contemporary set up (apart from the long-lasting wallpaper) was the see-through taskbar. Each window and dialog field had that very same clear look, even once you dragged them round. The title bar and its buttons have been glassy too (until hovered over, which made them glow). Stacking a number of home windows made them blurry, giving the phantasm of frosted glass. You possibly can cycle via open home windows with the “Flip 3D” shortcut that stacks all of them in 3D house.
Virtually each ingredient responded with a delicate animation. The Begin menu button would mild up with a satisfying glow when hovered over. Icons would really feel as in case you’re “urgent down” on them each time hovered over. Energetic tabs have reside previews of the energetic window within the thumbnail.
Then there have been smaller touches just like the glossy and shiny progress bar, which easily progressed in contrast to the blocky progress bar in Home windows XP. The taskbar icons additionally flashed in tender inexperienced when a process was in progress, as did the reside thumbnail previews. The in-built themes made the UI much more spectacular with transitioning wallpaper slideshows.
No Home windows aesthetic beats the clear and crisp look of the Aero Glass design language. I’ll perpetually stay nostalgic for these elegant animations and the readability of the UI. In the event that they ever redesign Home windows, I hope they create again Aero Glass. It was positively peak design and by no means did not impress me.
Earlier than Home windows 11 broke the Begin menu, we used it on a regular basis. The Start menu on Windows 7 options two columns, a search bar, pinned gadgets, a soar record (with current gadgets) and an all packages menu, so you’ll be able to simply find that app you simply put in or launched. It was purposeful, and you can use it with muscle reminiscence alone.
Home windows 7 was the final model the place the Begin menu made sense. After that, Microsoft began stripping away helpful Begin menu options and altering layouts in each iteration.
The Metro UI of Home windows 8 took away the menu button solely and changed it with a grid of “Stay Tiles” activated with a cursor gesture. Everyone hated it, in order that they introduced again the basic structure in Home windows 10 however stored the reside tiles from Home windows 8, which created a mismatched, awkward mess.
Home windows 10 nonetheless had a considerably usable Begin menu, however Microsoft made positive that Home windows 11 didn’t. It moved the Begin button to the middle and with it, all the menu. The entire menu was stripped fully aside from a few default pinned shortcuts. You possibly can’t drag and drop issues into it. It doesn’t have current gadgets, explorer shortcuts, or completely different system menus.
The search bar reveals random rubbish from Bing and adverts for video games and apps. There are even adverts in the principle Begin menu. Often, you will notice shortcuts for random, however once you click on them, it begins putting in the apps from the Microsoft Retailer. You possibly can have extra or fewer of those adverts, however Home windows 11 doesn’t allow you to flip them off (at present, there is not any button to disable adverts within the settings app.)
Rather than the unique Begin menu, Home windows 11 has a “Feed” widget that reveals you information tales, inventory costs, and climate updates from MSN.
A Taskbar That Made Sense
Microsoft recreated the taskbar for Home windows 11 and overlooked a bunch of core options. You possibly can’t personalize the taskbar in any significant means anymore. You might reposition the bar anyplace on the desktop edges, left, proper, prime, or backside till Home windows 10, however you’ll be able to’t in Home windows 11. You possibly can’t resize the taskbar both.
When requested why you’ll be able to’t transfer or resize the taskbar anymore, Microsoft developers explained that not sufficient folks needed the personalization, in order that they didn’t code it. Nonetheless, that is senseless to me. Home windows has some 1.5 billion customers worldwide and Microsoft plans on forcing all of them to change to Home windows 11. So even when a small proportion of individuals need it, that’s nonetheless thousands and thousands of customers, roughly talking.
On prime of that, the toolbar function has additionally been eliminated, and it’s important to right-click on the Begin menu to open the facility consumer menu, versus anyplace on the taskbar.
Native Accounts That Revered Your Privateness
Logging in to Home windows was easy. You created a neighborhood profile and set a password to unlock your machine. Nonetheless, in a brand new try to mine as a lot consumer knowledge as doable, Microsoft has made it (nearly) inconceivable to create native accounts on Home windows.
For some variations of Home windows 11, Microsoft merely doesn’t allow you to proceed the set up in case you don’t log in with an internet account. You must disconnect Wi-Fi or pull up the console to bypass that restriction.
Different variations make it tougher to begin a neighborhood account by purposefully obscuring the button. The button could possibly be labeled “offline account” or “proceed with a restricted setup.”
Microsoft just lately took down some pages on its help web site that contained directions for creating native accounts. It will definitely restored them after going through backlash from prospects.
No Bloat
Our machines are a lot extra highly effective now, so Home windows needs to be snappier than ever. However by some means older computer systems with Home windows 7 felt sooner and extra responsive, particularly underneath heavier workloads. What offers? Because it seems, they weren’t hamstrung with bloatware.
Microsoft has stuffed adverts and bloatware all over the place it may well within the Home windows 11 UI. We had simply gotten a break from Cortana and Microsoft concocted Copilot. Now Copilot begins up by default on my laptop, even after I disabled it utilizing the Activity Supervisor. It’s prepackaged with Home windows and I attempted uninstalling it, nevertheless it retains exhibiting up once more.
Bing and MSN are polluting the search and Begin menus. The Begin menu additionally pushes Microsoft’s “advisable” apps. File Explorer is now “cloud-powered,” which pushes OneDrive. Xbox Recreation Bar and Groups are preloaded typically. Typically, you’ll see TikTok, Sweet Crush, and Spotify within the Begin menu after a contemporary set up.
Earlier than the launch of Home windows 11, Microsoft promised that it will declutter the context menu. Positive sufficient, they decluttered it by turning all of the core buttons into icons and placing them on prime of the context menu. They hid the remainder of the buttons underneath a “Present Extra Choices” menu.
If it was any random context menu, I wouldn’t miss the unique model. However the File Explorer context menu is my most used menu shortcut. I closely depend on it to maneuver information round, rename them, pin them, open them, and archive them. I do know the Explorer shortcuts for these actions, however (for some motive) I by no means acquired used to them.
For years, I might use this menu on muscle reminiscence alone. With Home windows 11, I’ve to cease and search for the suitable button each single time. I want Microsoft would let everybody customise their context menu, as a result of that’ll be the simplest strategy to declutter it.
Proper now, the one strategy to get the original menu back is by going into the registry and switching a key. It’s not seamless although, as a result of Home windows Replace always breaks that patch.
Outdated College Picture Viewer
In my humble opinion, the old-school Home windows Picture Viewer will perpetually be higher than the Photographs app. It has clear buttons within the heart for navigating photos, zooming, rotating, and deleting. It was easy and labored immediately with none lag in any way.
Microsoft Photographs provides an inferior consumer interface and expertise. Plus, it lags. I’ve sat via pinwheels loading photos, even on fashionable Home windows machines. I am positive you may have too (the lag is much more pronounced on barely older {hardware}). That ought to by no means occur for an motion so simple as viewing an everyday picture file.
The Photographs app is slowed down with AI and cloud integrations. Even earlier than they added these options, the app felt slower than Home windows Picture Viewer.
It’s not simply the bloat although, as a result of Photographs has a foul consumer interface. I can by no means reliably use it. Say, you may have a folder with a bunch of photos in it. If you happen to double-click considered one of them, it opens in Photographs. To this point so good. You then strive flipping via the remainder of the photographs, however you’ll be able to’t as a result of (for some weird motive), Photographs doesn’t allow you to scroll via photos instantly from File Explorer. You must click on a picture inside the Photographs gallery to cycle via your assortment.
Typically, it simply refuses to let me set a picture because the wallpaper or lock display, irrespective of what number of occasions I strive. The navigation buttons which have been as soon as neatly organized within the Picture Viewer are actually scattered throughout the interface or changed with a filmstrip and a bunch of icons.
Constructed-in Video games
If you happen to’ve solely ever used Home windows 10 and onwards, it’s possible you’ll not know this, however Home windows used to come back with some actually enjoyable video games. Home windows XP had 3D Pinball: House Cadet, which I used to play with my cousins. For a bunch of children who didn’t have web entry, it was an effective way to move lazy summer time afternoons.
Home windows 7 had Chess Titans, Minesweeper, Freecell Solitaire, and some others. My dad taught me Solitaire, Chess, and Minesweeper. I nonetheless keep in mind the animation that got here up when he gained a sport.
Chess Titans was one of many first 3D video games I performed. I’m simply as unhealthy at chess at present as I used to be again then, however I distinctly keep in mind feeling impressed by the real looking feel and look of the sport.
Choosing Your Default Apps With out the OS Preventing Again
There was a time when you can decide the default apps on Home windows with only one click on. On newer variations of Home windows, it’s important to tediously configure each file and hyperlink kind to open with the app of your selection.
For instance, if you wish to set a default media participant, it’s important to scroll via ten completely different file varieties and manually change the defaults for each single one.
Home windows 10 briefly restored the unique default menu, with the added possibility of refining defaults by file kind and hyperlink kind. That was the right answer. Microsoft’s help pages say that Home windows 11 provides the identical answer with a number of default kind choices, however my copy of Home windows 11 does not have them.
Not all is misplaced although, as a result of you will get many of those options again on Home windows 11. You possibly can restore the old context menu, make local accounts, get Windows Photo Viewer again, and remove some bloatware.