making peace with windows 11

Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 10 in 75 days from the day I post this, so now was the time to just get 11 installed and be done with that mess.

No, I have not switched back to Windows. I've been using Linux for over 2 years now on my main computer, I really like it, and there's no way I would go back to Windows as my daily driver.

However, on my second computer (an old Dell Latitude), I need Windows on that for two things. Updating my Garmin navigators, and the rare occasion (as in so rare it's fewer than 5 times a year) when I need to print something. I could make the printer work with Linux, but since I print so rarely, it's not worth the bother.

This is actually my second (or maybe third?) go at Win11. I hated 11 so much before that I just said screw it and went back to 10. But again, it's 75 days before support ends, so... yeah, time for 11.

My Windows 11 installation is 99.8% bone stock. The only non-stock things I did was install the OS skipping all the BitLocker stuff and using a local account. The Win11 ISO was from Microsoft directly, but I made my USB stick installer using Rufus, allowing me to skip BitLocker and the "required" Microsoft account. Aside from that, everything in the OS is bog standard.

Okay, that's not true. I did run O&O ShutUp10++ to modify some settings, but that semi-broke the Start menu in Win11. I undid all the changes, went back to bog standard after that and stayed there.

My complaints about 11 haven't changed.

I still hate the fact the taskbar cannot be moved, cannot be resized, and cannot be made smaller.

I still hate the way the right-click context menu works.

I still hate that all the settings you need to change to turn off bloat (as much as can be done) are sprawled out all over the OS, including one that's a total doozy to get to that I'll detail in a moment. There's Win11 Settings, there's legacy settings stuff using Windows 7 style windows for things that weren't integrated into Settings, there's legacy settings from as far back as Windows 2000 (or earlier!) still floating around... the whole thing is a mess. And even after you're done clicking all over the place to find every setting you need to change, you're not done, because there's also Edge browser.

Edge browser has its own settings and permissions, some of which are integrated into Windows, some not. And there's a ton of them.

It takes - and I kid you not - at least a solid hour to go through all the settings in bog standard Win11 just to disable the bloat. All the "Settings" settings, all the legacy settings, all the Edge settings. I am not kidding when I say it's a mess.

Years ago, it used to be the PC manufacturer that put all the bloat in a new computer when you bought it. Those who remember those bad old days spent a lot of time uninstalling garbage trial software. It was ridiculous.

In modern times, it's Windows itself bloating up everything with its stock installation.

Once time (and a lot of it) has been put into disabling all the bloat, Win11 then runs fairly well.

There is one positive I can give to Windows that I've probably said here before. Out of all modern operating systems that exist, Windows by far has the best legacy software support. I have software over 20 years old that will still run in modern Windows. That's basically not possible on a Mac nor in Linux. And even if ancient software doesn't run exactly correct in modern Windows, it will still, y'know, run.

Some third-party programs that are only for Windows are still the best you'll ever find. Three examples of that are Everything by voidtools (absolute best search utility), Irfanview (absolute best image viewer), and Notepad++ (absolute best text editor). And for those that would wonder why Notepad++ is the best, it's because of the macro ability. Absolutely nothing comes close to how much you can do with macros in Notepad++.

While I can mostly get the same functionality in Linux, Windows-only programs like the above are top shelf stuff, and all free.

However, this doesn't fix how stupid Windows can sometimes be. And this is where I talk about a doozy of a setting so buried that you would never find it on your own.

Ready? Here we go.

Where's the keyboard repeat rate setting in Windows 11? Go ahead, try to find it in Settings. It's not there.

To find that setting, you have to:

1. Win+R to bring up the run dialog.
2. Type control, then click OK for the OLD Control Panel.
3. In the Control Panel, click the tiny "Category" at top right and choose "Large Icons".
4. Click Keyboard and now you can adjust the repeat rate.

Yes, this is how you're supposed to adjust the keyboard repeat rate.

How do I know this? Microsoft Copilot states so verbatim if you ask about it:

You may notice at the bottom that Copilot goes on to say hey, you could also perform a registry edit to do the same thing if you wanted to. Yeah, I'm sure Joe and Jane average computer user would totally be comfortable doing that, right?

It is literally impossible to get to the keyboard repeat rate setting using only the mouse. Win11 shipped this way. The keyboard is the primary interface for a computer, and Microsoft decided to just leave out any way to adjust the repeat rate in Settings.

For anything positive I could say about Windows, it's stuff like this that immediately punches it down.

But as the title of this article states, I've made my peace with Windows 11. On the second computer I have it installed on, I've accepted its awfulness. Win11 was bad out of the gate, it's still bad, that will never change, and that's just the way it is.

Whenever I encounter a dumb thing in Windows now, all I think to myself is yep, there's yet another reason I don't use this trash as my daily driver OS. I get in Win11, get whatever done I need to, then shut down that computer and go right back to Linux.

Published 2025 Jul 31