Windows 11 in 2026: Are you fully on board, or still holding back?

[jameskala1213]

With Windows 11 having been around for a while now — and Microsoft clearly doubling down on it with Copilot, AI features, and tighter hardware requirements — I’m curious how people here are feeling today.

Have you fully migrated all your machines to Windows 11?

Still running Windows 10 on purpose?

Any features you genuinely like (or hate)?

Do you feel performance and stability have improved over the last year? Personally, it feels like Windows 11 is finally starting to mature, but some design choices and requirements still feel a bit forced — especially for older but perfectly capable hardware. Would love to hear real-world experiences from other Neowin members, especially those managing multiple PCs or using it in production/work environments.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

I used Windows 11 from July 2022 until December 2025 at home, at the time I knew I’d be eventually deploying it at work, so wanted to get experience using it beforehand.

In general Windows 11 worked fine, the "Settings" app is vastly improved over Windows 10, the Start Menu is a big downgrade in my opinion. The new right click context menu's grew on me over time.

At work I spent quite a while setting up and tweaking group policies, so when I switched people over they logged in and everything was very familiar, to the point the start button would be left aligned by default for one such example.

I've so many group policies to keep Edge clean and usable, it really is such a bloated mess now by default compared to a few years ago. Overall at work its been fine and no one has really complained about Windows 11 in the nine months or so its been deployed.

At home I’ve recently switched to Linux though, this is more for privacy reasons however. I've been on a bit of a privacy journey and don't like how Microsoft are constantly trying to get my personal documents / photos in to OneDrive at every opportunity, or trying to extract other data from integrating Ai in to everything. Windows 11 sends that much telemetry I just decided as an individual its not for me any more on my personal PC.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Running Windows 11 on the computers that support it, Windows 10 with ESUs on those that don't. 

Since the Windows 10 machines are just getting secure updates, they have become, in a kind of a way, immutable.  At least insofar as none of the Extended Security Updates have changed the performance or behavior of the system.

One of my Windows 11 machines that received the 2026-01 operating system update was generating freezes and BSODs.  I had initially assumed this was due to a RAM failure and was looking for/into the root cause of that when the 2026-01 OOB update was released.  There was discussion that that secondary update resolved issues with freezes and BSODs, and I installed that.  Since, then, no issues with freezes or BSODs.

I realize that a single computer system makes this more anecdotal than actual data, but I'm not the only one who has experienced these issues and the fact that they seem widespread is indicative of deep issues with product quality (or lack thereof) at Microsoft.  

That said, Microsoft has some pretty smart and passionate people working there, and I'm hoping that Microsoft gives their employees the tools and time that they need to not just improve Windows 11's quality, but keep it at a high level throughout the lifecycle of the OS.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[grunger106]

Been running Win11 on all devices that supported it from day 1, those devices that couldn't were gradualary retired so by the EOL date everything was Win11.
Using a MS Account + OneDrive

No issues at all.

At work we have an estate of ~2000 Windows 11 endpoints, 75% of which were upgraded from Win10 in 2025.
We manage the fleet with Intune (Apart from the older ones which are still hybrid joined where group policy is still in play)
All users sign in with Entra sync'd identities, use OD4B etc
We had one issue with a 3rd party piece of software causing BSODs on 24H2 which has now been resolved (not a MS issue), and we have had a few issues with the Jan 2026 CU
But generally speaking nothing major, very little user noise related directly to the OS.

[+DDG3595 Subscriber²]

I reinstalled Windows 11 on both desktops last summer.  Because it's optimized for SSDs, performance lags a bit, however, my major pet peeve was an update that KOed Blu-ray playback late last year.  My solution was to run PowerDVD as Administrator (I use it for my movies, but it no longer sees my NAS.  For that, I bought CyberLink's Media Player 18 Standard from the Microsoft store for lightweight video streaming).  I'll upgrade my hardware when I'm able to, but aside from these criticisms, it's good.

[Fraud OS 11]

No I usually move Windows releases when newest hardware support, driver support and web browser support (e.g. Chrome support) ceases to exist for the older Windows OS

[Joni_78]

I’m currently using Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. I tried Windows 11 in the past, but there was an annoying bug where File Explorer took tens of seconds to open and detect all my 10–12 TB hard drives.

I’m using Windows 11 when im at the office, though, and I don’t really have anything bad to say about it. I actually like it more on my work laptop than Windows 10.

I might give Windows 11 Enterprise another try on my home computers soon, since it’s been 1–2 years since I last tested it.

[energie10]

I am still on Windows 10 Pro and have not yet have the desire to upgrade to Windows 11.

[Taliseian]

I've been using Windows 11 since just after launch - even through the PITA NVME issue with WD drives (I currently have two installed and one of them was hit by the bug which caused me to reformat and restore back-upped data).

Outside of that major issue and a few minor issues it has done the jobs that I've needed -- gaming, streaming, office work, etc.

I've honestly been toying around with Linux, but haven't pulled the trigger yet because of my gaming and streaming, which is the primary reason these days that I use my computer.  I stream MMOs (mostly LOTRO, but have done WoW and SWTOR) and Action RPGs (PoE, D2R, D4) and have read about the difficulties in getting games to run and what looks to me like hoops that have to be overcome - mostly due to poorly maintained drivers by hardware manufacturers, but some of them deal with WINE and other steps that have to be taken in some cases.

If there is a time where gaming is better under Linux, then I'll have to setup my system to dual boot and give it a try.  While it's looking very promising, I don't feel it's quite there yet.

[cork1958]

Have 2 Windows 11 computers here and neither is officially supported. Installed on both machines just a couple months ago although I did have wife's desktop computer signed up for extended updates on Windows 10. Have a backup copy of 10 just in case. Turned out wife is able to deal with Windows 11, so that's cool. I had Windows 11 installed on this laptop at one time early last year but had wiped it and put Linux Mint on it.

All in all, Windows 11 has surprised me as far as being totally enjoyable and not as much of a shock as usual when going from one Windows version to the next. Haven't had a single issue with either computer at all.

Have 8 other computers around here that are on either Linux Mint or MXLinux. 4 of those computers are very old and seldom used anymore although do still run current versions of OS installed pretty decently.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I've got Windows 11 Pro installed because it came with the laptop, but I only use it to play games and occasionally edit a document in Office. If the laptop didn't come with Windows I wouldn't be using the OS at all.

[aioraito]

I tried Windows 11 LTSC 2024 for a bit but went back to Windows 10 LTSC 2019.

Now, I'm just dual booting Windows 7 with Linux Mint Debian Edition 7

I don't think there will be another Windows version like Windows XP and Windows 7

[tsupersonic]

30+ years of using Windows, and I'm fully on-board...with ditching Windows. I have switched over to Linux (Fedora, CachyOS) on everything, except I keep one Windows 10 IOT LTSC PC around. Windows 11 is so bad, and I hate that I have to use it for work (at least it's Enterprise LTSC). Microsoft is heading down a bad path w/ Windows and they don't care - which definitely shows in their quality of updates! 

[+Warwagon MVC]

Used it since Windows 11 first came out.

[Xenon]

Used it since it first came out, but on 2 (of 3) computers I have replaced it with Mint on one and Zorin os on the other. 

[ultimate99]

Been using it since June 2021.

[zman12255]

I updated to WIn 11 on the last day of support then two weeks later moved to Bazzite Linux.. Win 11 is so bad to me I just can't bring myself to use it

[+DDG3595 Subscriber²]

I upgraded both of my desktops to Windows 11 last summer.  Aside from a few annoying updates, I'm sticking with it.

[DGB]

I managed to upgrade to ms11 using Rufus, it has worked reasonably well until an update this week, now my laptop is running so slow it's almost unusable 

regards All

Dave

[satukoro]

Yesterday my mom asked me something ive been waiting to hear since 2012: "hey, how hard is it to install linux? i think im finally done with windows"

She was setting up a new laptop she got after having used chromeos, android, and her old windows 7 laptop for a few years, and she was really annoyed by the degradation of the windows experience.

Meanwhile ive used linux on all three of my pcs at home (gaming desktop, laptop, and htpc) since february 2022 and recently convinced my boss to let me put linux mint on my work laptop.

[Nick_swe]

Moved my main machine over about a year ago and mostly fine with it, but I keep Windows 10 on an older laptop.

[terrieruk]

I love my Windows 11 setup. Mind you I used Rufus to install, One Commander as a file explorer, VLC instead of Media Player, Norton instead of Defender, Proton Drive instead of OneDrive, Ashampoo Office instead of Office and Helium Browser instead of Edge. Runs like a dream

[sphbecker Moderator]

On 29/01/2026 at 09:24, jameskala1213 said:

With Windows 11 having been around for a while now — and Microsoft clearly doubling down on it with Copilot, AI features, and tighter hardware requirements — I’m curious how people here are feeling today.

Have you fully migrated all your machines to Windows 11?

Still running Windows 10 on purpose?

Any features you genuinely like (or hate)?

Do you feel performance and stability have improved over the last year? Personally, it feels like Windows 11 is finally starting to mature, but some design choices and requirements still feel a bit forced — especially for older but perfectly capable hardware. Would love to hear real-world experiences from other Neowin members, especially those managing multiple PCs or using it in production/work environments.

As someone who switched to Windows 11 years ago, I feel like the "finally starting to mature" state was achieved around 23H2. I also felt like many of the Windows 11 gripes were overstated; legitimate annoyances, but things you could learn to work around within a few days of use.

Having said that, I actually think it is telling that Microsoft seems to have pulled their head out of the ground as soon as Windows 10 support ended and started trying to make Windows 11 better. Its almost as if Microsoft's own leadership team was on Windows 10 all those years and only then got a taste of the state of Windows 11.

Having said all of that, my take is probably backwards. As a long-time Windows 11 defender, the fact that we no longer have a choice (putting LTS aside), I see myself taking a more objective perspective. I am excited about Microsoft's announced improvements, and by extension of them, find myself focusing more on the bad state Windows is in.

TLDR: I hope we can get back to the glory days of quality releases like Windows XP and 7. We are not there now with 11, nor were we with 10.

[cooky560 Veteran]

Windows 11 is a big thumbs down from me. I used for a period of a few days while it was in insider and windows 10 was the main OS, and realised it wasn't for me.

I am still waiting for Windows to be tolerable again, a shame as at one point I was very pro Microsoft.

 

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Mixed thoughts. I do think MS realized it need's to re-focus on it's core while trying to get people to ultimate pay for AI.

My windows machines is my gaming tower. That being said a windows machine I used as a server was just recently converted to no GUI Linux server (and it runs so much better for it's purpse), and general purpose laptop (non-gaming) that could run Windows 11 is using Linux. My work device is a MacBook Pro, and I have a raspberry PI acting as my DNS server, using linux. I honestly have more non-windows devices then devices. I don't consider myself typical user however.