Since upgrading to Windows 11, my laptop simply hasn’t been the identical.
While I knew from PCWorld’s Windows 11 review that Microsoft’s newest working system had a tough launch, curiosity received the higher of me, and I made a decision to improve my journey laptop computer—a Lenovo Yoga C940 from 2019—for the sake of experimentation. I’m a sucker for visible redesigns, and I used to be desperate to attempt a few of Windows 11’s new features, akin to Android app assist.
The previous a number of months have confirmed that this wasn’t an awesome choice, and have bolstered my need to stay with Windows 10 on the desktop PC that I take advantage of on a regular basis for work.
Below is an accounting of all the problems I’ve run into since upgrading to Windows 11, together with my makes an attempt to repair a few of them. While this may increasingly not characterize everybody’s expertise, it’s nonetheless a cautionary story about upgrading your PC only for the sake of it (particularly as Windows 10 is continues to receive security updates):
It drains battery whereas idle
My largest frustration after updating to Windows 11 was the way in which it burned by means of battery life whereas sleeping. Because I primarily work on a desktop, my laptop computer can go unused for days on finish, so I’d should preemptively cost it earlier than use to keep away from being caught with a useless battery.
Why was this occurring? By default, Windows 10 and Windows 11 use a mode known as Modern Standby, which retains the pc linked to Wi-Fi in a low-power state if you put it to sleep. This permits Windows to rapidly wake from standby and even obtain updates whereas the pc is idle.
Unfortunately, Modern Standby will also be a battery vampire, and whereas I’d enabled it in Windows 10, by some means it got here again with a vengeance in Windows 11.
I did discover a repair, although: Via this post on ElevenForum, making a small registry edit helps you to disable Modern Standby by means of the Windows Control panel:
- Open an elevated command immediate and enter the next: REG ADD HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPowerPowerSettingsF15576E8-98B7-4186-B944-EAFA664402D9 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
- Visit Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings.
- Under the “Balanced” profile, broaden the “Networking connectivity in Standby” choice and choose “Disable” whereas on battery.
While I’m glad these modifications helped, nobody ought to should make registry edits simply to keep away from idle battery drain.
Here’s a frustration you could learn about already: In Windows 11, Microsoft eradicated the power to “never combine” taskbar objects, making it more durable to multitask between a number of situations of a single program. Microsoft additionally removed Jumplists, which might show fast actions or current recordsdata if you right-click an icon within the taskbar or Start Menu.
As recommended by my colleague Mark Hachman, I fastened this drawback by putting in Start11, Stardock’s $6 utility that allows you to restore the Start Menu and taskbar to its former performance.
Stardock
But Start11 isn’t an ideal resolution both. Its search perform doesn’t at all times acknowledge newly put in packages, and infrequently I’ll run right into a bug that necessitates rebooting the menu. Also, Start11’s Jumplist for Typora, my writing app of alternative, solely reveals “Frequent” paperwork as a substitute of “Recent” ones. Start11 continues to be an unlimited enchancment over Windows 11’s default Start Menu and taskbar, nevertheless it’s much less environment friendly for me than what Microsoft supplied in Windows 10.
The energy button doesn’t work proper
Windows 11 has additionally launched a quirk to my Yoga C940’s energy button: When I press it, the LED indicator blinks for about 30 seconds, throughout which era it’s not possible to show the laptop computer again on. If I don’t need to watch for the sunshine to cease blinking, I need to long-press the button to power a shutdown, then reboot the laptop computer (which in all probability takes about 30 seconds anyway).
The C940’s aspect energy button now prevents me from instantly re-waking the pc from sleep.
Jared Newman / Foundry
Switching the ability button’s habits from Hibernate to Sleep mode didn’t assist, and I’ve but to come back throughout another options. Stranger nonetheless, closing my laptop computer’s lid doesn’t result in the identical habits.
For now, I’ve resigned myself to considering twice earlier than hitting the ability button. While that is only a minor nuisance total, it’s additionally a persistent reminder of the issues Windows 11 has brought about.
Screen distinction (briefly) received screwy
About a yr in the past, I wrote about how some Intel-powered laptops have a bizarre auto-contrast feature that’s supposed to avoid wasting energy however simply finally ends up making the display look dirty. At the time, I used to be in a position to disable this function by means of Intel’s Graphics Command Center app with none obvious hit to battery life.
But a couple of month in the past, I seen that my laptop computer had reverted to its outdated contrast-correcting methods, and Intel Graphics Command Center now not supplied any technique to repair it. The requisite setting merely disappeared, and the fixed shifts in distinction have been slowly driving me mad.
Jared Newman/IDG
Stranger nonetheless, the issue abruptly resolved itself final week after a protracted back-and-forth with an Intel spokesman, and I used to be in a position to disable Graphics Command Center’s counterproductive makes an attempt at energy administration. While I’m glad that my display is again to regular, I haven’t obtained an evidence for what went incorrect within the first place, and it makes me surprise what number of different delicate frustrations persons are tolerating with no clear path to decision.
It simply feels slower (generally)
This final level laborious to place a finger on, not to mention measure in any goal approach, however my laptop computer has sometimes felt slower and fewer responsive since upgrading to Windows 11.
My Lenovo Yoga C940 has 10th-generation Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 12GB of RAM, which ought to be greater than sufficient for my regular net searching, emailing, and doc enhancing. Yet at instances, the laptop computer can appear torpid upon bootup and sluggish to modify between apps or browser tabs. Even keyboard enter sometimes feels laggy.
To be truthful, I’ve had loads of stretches by which the laptop computer runs simply tremendous—each on and off the charger—however that simply makes the occasional hiccup much more vexing. I take fairly excellent care of my computer systems, and investigating the standard suspects (akin to startup and system tray purposes) didn’t flip up any apparent culprits. Again, it’s laborious to say if these points are even straight associated to Windows 11.
But I deliver it up as a result of it matches into the general sample of issues not working like they used to, prompting me to spend an inordinate period of time investigating why.
Most of the time, I’m captivated with software program updates. I used to be fast to undertake Windows 10 when it launched in 2015, and I at all times bounce to the newest iOS or Android releases once they’re accessible (generally even in beta kind). Even when points with these updates come up, they have an inclination to get resolved fairly rapidly, and I don’t remorse having made the bounce.
Windows 11, for me, has been the unlucky exception.
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