I upgraded my personal desktops to Windows 11!

Why Did I Wait?

As I write this article, I have quite a few clients already running Windows ll but I had held off on upgrading my own computers for various reasons. These are the same reasons many of my clients expressed as well.

• New operating systems tend to have issues when first released. I like to wait a year or more for those issue to be worked out before I upgrade.
• The bulk of my clients are still on Windows 10 so I was in no hurry and had no immediate need.
• I wasn't sure if all my hardware and software would work on Windows 11.
• I was somewhat concerned about being able to find things with the new interface. Habits are hard to break!

Before Starting a Major Operating System Upgrade

• Backup any important data
• Remove any software thats not being actively used.
• Remove 3rd party Antivirus software.
• Make sure the computer is NOT infected with viruses or malware.
• Make sure there is no drive corruption.
• Make sure Windows is in good working order.

PRIMARY COMPUTER UPGRADES

Gaming PC

I upgraded the livingroom gaming PC first. It had the least amount of software installed which made it the logical choice. Luckily, it had no issues at all and went quickly.

Office PC

Based on that experience, I upgraded my work machine in the office which has a LOT of software on it. This is where compatibility issues might arise. I pulled the trigger and started the upgrade.

Wife's Business Laptop

She is self-employed and uses this laptop with Excel and an older version of Quickbooks. Low and behold - it also upgraded with no issues.

OLD EQUIPMENT

I have two laptops are considerably older and cannot be upgraded. I plan to make one of them into a Linux Mint machine. (I have been learning Linux and this made sense for me.) The other laptop can remain on Windows 10. It's used for my other hobby to run my HO Scale train layout. It doesn't need to be online for what it does. Neither of these laptops contains anything critical to the business.

GOING FORWARD

The next challenge will be to convince more clients to switch to Windows 11! I still have multiple clients still using Windows 7 who steadfastly refuse to change. Some of these concerns were money issues and others didn’t want to learn a new version.

UPDATE AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF USE

• With the exception of a single item, all software has worked without issues. This was a big concern for me when I did the upgrade but the concern was unfounded.
• I discovered my older and outdated Logitec C910 webcam has drivers that stop the installation of the 24H2 update. This was rectified by manually removing the old drivers. I want to get a new/better webcam anyway! This was by no means a deal-breaker.
• The option on the context menu to delete and rename files were moved. Its hard to break old habits and I find this really annoying as I find myself searching for something I used to do in a split second on Windows 10.