Upgrade to Windows 11 from a fresh Windows 10 setup versus a complete clean install.
Upgrade to Windows 11 from a fresh Windows 10 setup versus a complete clean install.
Hi, After days of troubleshooting my new 7900x pc, it finally seems to be stable. As part of the troubleshooting, i reinstalled windows like 5 times lol, and i really don't wanna do that again and reinstall all my apps. The last time i reinstalled, i tried windows 10 instead of 11, i want windows 11 mainly because i want the windows management tools, and get rid of aquasnap and power toys which i was using until now on windows 10. So is there a performance difference between doing a windows 11 clean install to upgrading from windows 10 which is also almost clean (it only has like 10 basic programs). i searched for an answer and didn't really find one, all the answers were comparing upgrading from a bloated windows 10 install to a clean windows 11 install, which is obvious which is better. So is there a difference? does it leave residue files? does it really break programs? does it have a performance hit? thank you all for the help
I understand the windows.old setup, but if you remove that, are there any other hidden files or programs you're unsure about? Are there additional factors to consider? Also, is it likely that many components will fail, saving you trouble by performing a clean installation? Haha!
If your setup meets expectations, upgrading isn’t necessary. Windows 11 isn’t widely adopted in either business or personal use. It’s worth noting that developers often have strong skills, and older Windows versions tend to function reliably. The term “Windows rot” refers to issues with long-term support systems like Windows XP or Vista. Reinstalling Windows 10 might be more practical than switching to Windows 11 at this stage, especially since updates are still required for security. You can likely keep using Windows 10 for a considerable time.
I understand the benefits of the new Windows management features, even though they're less stable. I tried aquasnap and powertoys to mimic them, but Windows 11 offers a more seamless integration and overall improvement. As someone who works in program engineering, I know my peers at Microsoft are solid and well-respected, just like any major company with many employees. I think upgrading would be a good idea, and if it doesn't work out, I might reinstall it.
I always feel frustrated using Windows, except for Windows 7 which remains the only version that works for me. I’m familiar with every Windows release since XP. On Windows 11, opening apps becomes particularly annoying and takes significantly longer than with XFCE or Unix desktops. Installing software feels sluggish because it lacks a package manager like BSD or Linux systems. Ultimately, Windows 11 offers just one desktop option, leaving no room for customization if you’re unhappy. The likelihood that Microsoft created a better desktop experience is nearly zero. BSD and Linux perform much better since people have diverse needs for workflow efficiency: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_environment https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Window_manager
I fully support that Linux is superior, particularly for developers and dual-booting, though gaming remains challenging on it right now. Among the Windows options I have (10 or 11), version 11 stands out to me due to its strong system management features.
I don't know, I completely switched to Linux when I was 18, that was when Ubuntu was still an ideal system, now it's not the best Linux anymore. Then I started using Linux for gaming (Arch Linux). And even in the days when the DXVK project was just getting started, I noticed that some new games ran better on Linux than on Windows. Eg Assassin's Creed Odyssey had (extremely) many bugs in the first weeks after release on windows. But on my Linux system this first release actually ran almost without any problems. I'm pretty good at configuring wine, that may have something to do with it. Now I game less and I have to say that even FreeBSD is enough for me to game. I only use FreeBSD and I am someone who plays computer games frequently. FreeBSD is much less suitable for gaming than Linux, but that doesn't bother me in the least. I really think it's underestimated how easy it is to switch to FreeBSD for gaming. - You have something like 1237 native games. You can just install these games with the package manager like any other package. - Then you have cloud gaming, which gives you access to a lot of games: https://geekflare.com/best-cloud-gaming-services/ - You have https://www.freshports.org/games/linux-steam-utils/ which gives access to quite a few additional quality games. - You also have Suyimazu: https://codeberg.org/Alexander88207/Suyimazu - You can use VirtualBox or bhyve to virtualize windows in FreeBSD. You can probably play that way too. - Finally, you have quite a few emulators that you can use in FreeBSD that make many additional games available: https://www.freshports.org/games/retroarch/ https://www.freshports.org/emulators/dolphin-emu/ https://www.freshports.org/emulators/rpcs3 Etc. - https://www.freshports.org/x11/antimicro How many games is that in total all together? The answer is that this is probably going to be over 10,000 games, which is way more than what I would need to have fun. Games I often play on FreeBSD are 0 A.D, Xonotic and OpenLara and they have been working fine for years. For example, if I go to the 0 A.D. reddit, I see frequent (windows user) posts that say 0 A.D. crashes on startup. Well this particular game has always started in exactly 1 second (for many years), and shuts down in exactly less than 1 second, never had a problem on FreeBSD. And 0 A.D. has become better than the best Age of Empires, in a lot of areas.
I fully understand your perspective except for the number of games involved. What matters most is being able to play whatever I like whenever I want, without any setup or pressure from others. I think Linux will be ready in about 2-3 years, and then I might finally make the switch. When I have time off, I’d just install what I want right away, even if I know how, and enjoy whatever games I pick. I really cherish my free time.