I regretted installing Win11 from the very start. It seemed slow, buggy, and lacked some Win10 features I liked and used. What, I can't put a taskbar where I like it (on the left side of the screen)? Why is File Explorer so slow? What is this annoying clicking while I resume the audio and why the blutooth latency suddenly got so noticeable? Why do I have to wait so long for a contextual menu to show up? What's with those unreadable new emojis? Why it randomly restart when I simply shut it down?
The list just kept going, small inconveniences piled up.
For months now I thought hey, easy, Urara. It will get better with time and updates, right?
Right...?
Two days ago, a START menu just stopped working. At first, I couldn't believe it. Restart didn't help. After a few attempts of making it work and failing, I was at my breaking point. I know I could make it work eventually, but at that point I was just simply too tired of this system.
So, I decided to downgrade to Windows 10.
Unfortunately, downgrading meant a need for a clean install. Those are always huge pain in the ass, but okay, whatever - being unemployed comes with some benefits, one of which being time for tedious tasks like that.
I moved the most important stuff to my external drive and decided to basically wipe everything else. Not a bad idea to do some deep cleaning every once in a while - I had a lot of files, unused software and already completed and forgotten games just wasting my space.
I created the backup of all my important data (writing, art, projects, photos, documents) on external drive and cloud services. I usually keep them separately on a D: drive, so there was no need to dig for them. Then, I exported my browser’s bookmarks — just in case, as they normally sync after logging in. I also copied the folder of my Steam saves, again, just in case, as they should be in the could. In the end, I made a list of all the essential software (like Scrivener, Notepad++ VSC, VLC, Anki, Dropbox, FileZilla, OBS) I’d have to re-download. There wasn’t a whole lot of them.
Since I already committed to ditching my partner in favor of a more attractive ex, I decided to establish new boundaries.
1. Welcome on board, Proton Pass password manager!
I've been meaning to start using one since forever, but been always daunted by the task. But now seems like a perfect time. While I'm logging back into the sites I actively use, I'm also updating a password with Proton Pass and adding 2FA if that's an option.
2. BitLocker, babe!
If you use Windows Pro, Enterprise, or Education, you will have a build-in access to BitLocker. It is a secure disk encryption solution - like a password you'd normally enter while logging in, but way, way more powerful. In case your laptop is stolen, it ensures that no one will get your data. You can see how to enable it here, it's easy and quick process.
3. Given the occasion, I’d like to share my favourite Waterfox/Firefox extensions that I cannot imagine my life without. Most of them should have Chrome/Edge equivalents and greatly improve the experience of web browsing.
QOL
Improve Youtube - Hide Shorts, set default fixed Video Quality, can add optional buttons for looping the videos, etc
Undo Close Tab - A very handy add-on, adds a button to quickly undo a closed tab. There is probably a shortcut for that, but I cannot bother remembering it.
Indie Wiki Buddy - Replaces the bad quality fandom wikis with indie wikis if there is one available
General Privacy & Ad Blocking
Some of them can be redundant.
Privacy Badger & uBlock Origin & Ghostery for a general ad/popup/cookies blocking and privacy features
SponsorBlock for YouTube - Automatically skip sposored parts of the video, can also skip over non music sections of music videos
PopUpOFF - Popup and overlay blocker - No more “subscribe to my newsletter” 3 seconds after visiting a site
Anti-AI
They won’t ever be perfect, but it’s better than nothing.
AI Blocker
AI Content Shield - This one, for example, removes the Gemini icon from Gmail
Disable AI - Disables search engines’ AI features (they don't even run in the background)
At this very moment of writing this post, I don’t care about the lack of Microsoft support. I just need a working operating system, and I'm happy to be back with Win10. At the same time, using Win10 as a regular desktop OS on a machine connected to the Internet past the last security update, I'm aware that the risk of a compromise only increases as time goes on...
Linux as an alternative has been on my mind, obviously. However, there are some programs I use daily (like Scrivener) and are essential to me, but not supported on that OS. Using Wine is an option... well. Buggy option.
There is no perfect solution. But I'm not going back to Win11.