Favorite Windows OS version

[Martyna Adamson]

Hi guys,
I was googling about windows new version release date and I accidently found windows XP download link.(It's my favorite version)

So, I was thinking what's yours favorite version? why?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

As long as it isn't Windows 8 and as long as it is still supported I don't have a preference. I guess that leaves me with 8.1 (which was still a bit iffy in my opinion) and Windows 10.

[muratoner]

I use windows 10 only because MS dropped support for windows 7. I can tell how fast win 7 is compared to 10 on older PC's. and far more stable. (when it had updates for security)

[BimBamSmash]

Mine's is Windows 7.

 

Never connected to any of the design languages they've been introducing since Windows 8. Even they don't seem to have cemented a singular vision for that yet. They keep changing things every now and then - before wrapping up their last attempt at changing the same area.

[+Biscuits Brown MVC]

Server 2000 but that not on the list so Win 10

[cork1958]

Windows 7 by a mile! Liked XP also, but not as much as 7. Never once had a single issue on Windows 7. Can't say as I dislike Windows 10 as much as I did at first, but I'd rate it behind 7 and XP still.

[stereopixels]

Windows XP... because it was such a major break from the past; the first version of Windows targeted at home users that was based on the NT kernel, it had a whole community of people building themes for it, good hardware and driver support, stable, support for CD burning baked in, ClearType support for LCDs, that Bliss wallpaper. An iconic release.

 

XP/Whistler was my reason for regularly visiting (and much later signing up for) Neowin as they had all the best info on it along with Paul Thurrott.

[+Warwagon MVC]

For me it depends. Over all i'd say windows 10, but troubleshooting wise I'll say windows 7. Because of F8 and the fact that chkdsk on boot shows you useful information in real time that you don't have to go look for in a log file after.

[Asharae]

If I'm feeling nostalgic, Win XP by a long shot.

 

But nowadays, 10 is easily the best

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Win 7. I was a fan of it back then after XP.

 

However, after Win 8 just came out, I moved to Linux, and was happy after that.

[0sit0]

[Jim K Global Moderator]

'95

7

XP

3.1

10

'98

ME

8.x

 

 

[+devHead Subscriber²]

I would still say that Windows 2000 Professional, but since it's not on the list, I go with Windows 10.  Don't get me wrong - I loved Windows 7.  Windows 8 was such a pain in the butt I skipped it until 8.1 came out and even then I used a start menu replacement app for it.  I really like Windows 10, but Windows 2000 was such a superb and stable  perfect OS.  I just loved it. Also, I got it for free from an online drawing that took place back in October 1999.  

[Xenon]

I voted windows 10 but actually it is windows 2000. 

 

Windows 2000

Windows 10

Windows 7

Windows 98

[Circaflex]

Windows 2K Pro is my all-time favorite. The stability and performance of it was incredible at the time; I left 98SE in the dust with 2K. I stuck around with 2K for the first year of XP because there were so many drastic changes and bugs, I wanted those ironed out before I moved on. Server 2k3 with the "normal user" mods comes in a close second for me.

 

Modern day, Windows 7 would be my choice.

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

All Windows versions have pluses and minus and just went with the current Windows 10 because that is what I use now. Windows 7 and XP (at SP2) were good.  Bad versions I skipped,,, Windows Me was just crap. It came on a new PC I purchased and had to "downgrade" to Windows 98 SE.  Windows Vista was not ready for prime time. Windows 8 was just a bad mistake with that Start Screen.

[adrynalyne]

Mostly indifferent for me with all versions. 
 

I would guess 2000 was the most enjoyable for me. 

[+Warwagon MVC]

1 hour ago, adrynalyne said:

Mostly indifferent for me with all versions. 
 

I would guess 2000 was the most enjoyable for me. 

I agree, I Loved windows 2000.

[+virtorio MVC]

Windows 2000.

[Scylla]

14 hours ago, Asharae said:

If I'm feeling nostalgic, Win XP by a long shot.

 

But nowadays, 10 is easily the best

Same here.

 

Win10's UI feels much superior to Win7's. Of course you first need to pull the plug on Cortana and other invasive features.

[Dhillon]

Windows 10 ltsc. slick ,modern and no metro nonsense. 

[MS Bob 11]

The legendary Windows XP above all for how customizable, easy to use and unrestrictive it was, but of course, today I would use Windows 10 only, not even 7/8.1 as certain core improvements have made it only into the latest.

[astropheed Veteran]

Windows 7 was my favourite windows. It just worked, it made sense to me, and I truly enjoyed it. Windows 10 is making me consider a mac. It's a bloody mess, breaks all the time. I'm not doing anything differently. That said, since the poll left a few out, I'll rate them based on many criteria (nostalgia, usability, function, excitement), as an overall, of only the versions I've extensively used:-

 

1: Windows 95 (My first true experience, it was amazing)

2: Windows 7 (The absolute best windows)

3: Windows XP (the longest lasting heavy hitter, with powerful memories)

4: Windows 98 (It worked)

5: Windows 10 (It's better than the ones lower than it, at least)

6: Windows 8.1 (Just better 8 )

7: Windows 8 (I hated it)

8: Windows ME (I hated it a lot)

9: Windows Vista (I immensely hated it)

10: Windows 3.1 (Sure I used this a lot, but I was very young and didn't care about computers at that time)

[Dick Montage]

I have nostalgic memories of 3.1 - setting up DOS, setting up peripherals and then installing Windows and apps. The time it took and just disk swapping all evening. Tinkering with IRQ and DMA addresses, adjusting RAM profiles and so on.

 

Then not knowing half as much as I thought, “upgrading to 3.11” (for workgroups) because of the slightly increased version number.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I think for an all-time favourite version of Windows its hard to choose between XP and 7, I feel both we’re significant releases for their time and I’ve nostalgic memories of them both, such as downloading a beta of Windows XP over a period of 5 days on dialup internet… only to find it didn’t work on my PC of the time haha.

 

Windows 7 – I think this is where Windows peaked, it felt like this was where everything came together for Windows. 64bit hardware support was great, Windows worked on low end hardware of the time, such as Netbooks. The UI was nice, consistent for the most part and pretty polished.

 

Windows XP – This is an earlier point in time I think was another major milestone for Windows. From a consumer version point of view this was where Windows finally became stable, fast user switching was great a great feature when you had 4 people all sharing the same PC. The theming / desktop customisation community was great back then, in general a more polished version of Windows 2000.

 

Windows 10 - I use it every day, however am impartial about, it fixed a lot of what Microsoft messed up with Windows 8 / 8.1 and in general I don’t mind using it (having done so since July 2015) however it doesn’t really jump out at me as something that was great like Windows 7 and XP did back in the day.

Settings are a total mess in Windows 10, its still easier to access to classic control panel to configure various things, the modem “settings” app feels like hard work to actually change a simple setting a lot of the time, maybe I’m just stuck in my ways though?

 

I do like that Windows 10 finally does scale well on 4K+screens and has lots of little improvements like not requiring admin rights to install a font. The Microsoft Store and most modern apps (or whatever we’re calling them these days) are not great in my opinion though, most apps like the Calculator for example feel like i'm using something designed for a tablet with a mouse and keyboard. Although credit where credit is due the one app I have always found useful is the Xbox app.