What Windows 11 24H2 offers beyond bugs

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WINDOWS 11 By Lance Whitney If you can get past the persistent glitches, the 2024 flavor of Windows 11 does have some interesting and helpful new feat
[See the full post at: What Windows 11 24H2 offers beyond bugs]

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fisher75, ClearThunder, rChaz, lmacri, DLivesInTexas

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Lance Whitney wrote:

If you can get past the persistent glitches

What glitches? I know, I know, I’ve been told by a couple here at AskWoody that they don’t care to keep reading about how I’m not having problems with my systems. However, whereas you tech writers want to/have to use Windows out of the box, I’m not constrained. Furthermore, I’m DIY and don’t have any OEM bloat on my machines to argue with Windows about how to do things.

I’ve been running 24H2 on one side of my dual boot since not to long after it was released, and the stability on that side led me to install it on the other side. I have some of the same software on both sides, and different software on both sides, but I don’t have glitches on either side. I don’t use the “features” that don’t add anything useful to me, and I certainly don’t use the features that get in my way.

I don’t use the Windows Start menu at all, haven’t since Windows 8, and my Start menu still looks and works like Windows 7, with the flyout feature of XP. I don’t need tabs in everything, I much prefer to have each folder start in its own window. For those few things that just plain annoy me, I dig into the registry and put them to bed.

Bit persistent glitches? No, that’s not a thing for me. As for the “Microsoft oughta do so-and-so”, Microsoft owns Windows, we only license its use. They can do with it as they will, and I’ll deal with whatever comes my way. Linux and Apple are options, but I wouldn’t look for either of them to do things exactly your way, either.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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So, you don’t use the native Windows 11 taskbar or start menu, and have otherwise modified Windows Explorer? In other words, you do not use 24H2 as Microsoft “intends”. You are NOT the typical user. Most people cannot be bothered to do what you do, or don’t know how.

A vanilla 24H2 system, which is what a typical user will be using, is a buggy mess. End of story.

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KS wrote:

So, you don’t use the native Windows 11 taskbar or start menu, and have otherwise modified Windows Explorer? In other words, you do not use 24H2 as Microsoft “intends”.

StartAllBack for $4.99, lifetime license. Why should I use something annoying when I can completely eliminate it for $4.99? Just because Microsoft didn’t “intend” for me to use it my way?

StartAllBack takes care of the Start menu as well as File Explorer, with an easy-to-use setup UI. Once the selections are made, that’s it. Most users of Windows install software they wish to use. StartAllBack is just another piece of software, easy to install and configure, and I don’t waste any time ranting about how Microsoft “should” have done it.

And no, it’s not a buggy mess on my hardware. In a 24H2 installation, I get everything setup, local Administrators account, local Standard user account, delete the fake name MS account, all of which goes through a couple of reboots, before I ever install StartAllBack. No glitches, no bugginess, just a clean, efficient OS. That’s the end of my story.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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PL1

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Tried twice to install 24H2. Both time, File Explorer became unusable, looping endlessly. MS Tech said it was a known problem, though it does not seem to be mentioned in the link. As someone who uses Explorer all the time, 24H2 is a nono

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I haven’t had any issues so far with 24H2 vs 23H2.  Dell PCs are shipping with 24H2 and I’m using the 24H2 iso for any reloads I do myself.  As it’s a full rewrite of the OS, I’d rather not have to do that later this year to get current.

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If Windows 11 24H2 only put my PC through a ringer, I might be happy. But instead, it puts my PC through a wringer, plus messing up my spell checker.

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Does Sudo for Windows truly act like sudo in Linux, because the Windows administrator account is not fully equivalent to the Linux root account. Using sudo, can I now delete or change files and directories owned by Installer or System without taking ownership and changing permissions first? Can I now view log files that are opened by another task?

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I’ve been using 24H2 since last June in Release Preview with no Start menu mods. It has been mostly fine. My only real issue is with the address bar in File Explorer, it sometimes appears blank.

rbailin wrote:

Does Sudo for Windows truly act like sudo in Linux, because the Windows administrator account is not fully equivalent to the Linux root account. Using sudo, can I now delete or change files and directories owned by Installer or System without taking ownership and changing permissions first? Can I now view log files that are opened by another task?

No, it works the same way as running something as admin, it just lets you do it from a non-elevated terminal. My recommendation would be AdvancedRun by Nirsoft, that lets you run a command prompt as TrustedInstaller or System if you need to, without having to change permissions.

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rbailin

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A few of the 24H2 features mentioned in the article are also available in the latest 23H2 Win11 (possible that some updates are rolled out gradually, though I don’t have “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” selected):

File Explorer “Support for TAR and 7z compression”

File Explorer “Duplicate tab”

Settings Option to “Show seconds in system tray clock”

 

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katiedid

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I bought a new XPS in December and it shipped with 24H2.  I didn’t want the new OS, but the deal was too good to pass up.  I’ve found, in the past four months, only a handful of things that irritate the heck out of me, and one thing I can laud about it.

24H2’s File Manager (I still call it that. And always will) is a disaster.  An extra step to reach a menu that gives you the options you once found in Win10 with one click.  And it ‘hesitates’ and sometimes will ‘freeze’ temporarily when I try to drag and drop a file to a external drive.   Another oddity is that the boot-up time is ….. longer…. by at least 20-25 seconds, despite having the same startup programs and sequence on my Win10 rig.  But all one has to do is open Task Manager to see why:  There must be 60 or 70 ‘ServiceHosts’ that load — all of which, when combined, eat 25% of my RAM.  And until it was patched, I would lose my network connection for no reason at all — restoring it only after a reboot.  Windows Settings is a downside too.  Even with 24H2 pro, I cannot choose what updates to download and install. And after selecting the option to only download and install OS updates, I still get OEM driver and other updates I normally get directly from the OEM.

But there is actually one tangible benefit I’ve seen in 24H2.  Without exception, it’s Memory Management.   I have a lot of ‘heavy’ programs I frequently run, including 30-35 browser tabs when FF is open. On my Win10 rig, all those programs take about 12GB of memory.  Since my browsers are synchronized, I can open the same 30-35 tabs on FF, along with those same ‘heavy’ programs on my 24H2 rig, and they only use between 7-8GB. Better yet, when I close all those programs, I have much more available memory than I ever did on Win10.   So … kudos (gasp!) to whoever figured out how to economize on memory and then promptly return it to the owner when it’s no longer needed.

A lot of people complain about the Start menu. I’m not one of them because I very rarely use the start menu anyway.  Even when Win95 came out, I found the ‘start’ button to be a dumbed-down novelty.  That’s what you have icons on the desktop for.  Why use the ‘Start’ button at all?  (except, of course, to access the power functions ….. which should actually be a system tray/taskbar item)  And since my 24H2 rig is a ‘play’ computer, and not one I use for work, I do not defer or pause my windows updates.  For now, anyway.  Susan would probably gasp at that practice, but the way I see it, if 24H2 has so many bugs, then a fix for those bugs might be in one of those updates. I do daily backups — on both my machines.  And if I get a bum 24H2 update and it crashes, it’s no big deal. That being said, I have found no issues or anomalies after any 24H2 update.

Like any other new OS, 24H2 will get better with age. (and a lot of updates)

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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ClearThunder wrote:

24H2’s File Manager (I still call it that. And always will) is a disaster. An extra step to reach a menu that gives you the options you once found in Win10 with one click.

You don’t mention what the extra step is you are referring to, but if it is the right click options, there is a fix for that. It will bring the right click back to being like Win10.

1.Click Search, type regedit, and click Registry Editor.
2.Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CLASSES\CLSID.
3.Right click CLSID > New > Key.
4.Name the key {86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2} and press Enter.
5.Right click {86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2} > New > Key
6.Name the key InprocServer32, and press Enter.
7.Select InprocServer32 and click (Default).
8.Click the value field, but don’t type anything. Just be sure it says default and then click OK.
9.Restart your computer

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windbg

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Are you kidding?  I’m supposed to do all that just so I can right-click and get the same menu I’d get in Win10?   No thanks.  Registry hacks are nothing but a sign of capitulation to bad programmers.  Same goes for third-party apps to do something that Windows should already be doing, such as choosing what updates to install.

Look, when you right click on a folder or file in 24H2 there is a short list of options.  One of those options is, of course, ‘Show More Options.’  If you choose that, then you get the list of options you used to get in Win10 with a single right-click.  Turns out those ‘more options’ are the ones I find most useful.  The only good thing I can say about File Manager is that it groups the copy, paste, cut, and rename functions together.  But that’s the only tangible benefit.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

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If you want to save a click, but add a key press, <Shift> & Right-Click brings up the original context sensitive menu, plus other useful options (like “Copy as path”).

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