Home windows 11 almost ruined my laptop. These fixes (type of) aided

Considering that upgrading to Home windows 11, my laptop just hasn’t been the exact.

Though I realized from VFAB’s Windows 11 review that Microsoft’s latest operating method experienced a rough start, curiosity obtained the superior of me, and I determined to up grade my vacation laptop—a Lenovo Yoga C940 from 2019—for the sake of experimentation. I’m a sucker for visible redesigns, and I was eager to attempt some of Windows 11’s new options, this kind of as Android application help.

The previous a number of months have confirmed that this wasn’t a wonderful selection, and have strengthened my motivation to adhere with Home windows 10 on the desktop Computer system that I use day to day for do the job.

Underneath is an accounting of all the challenges I have operate into because upgrading to Home windows 11, along with my makes an attempt to fix some of them. When this might not signify everyone’s expertise, it’s nevertheless a cautionary tale about upgrading your Personal computer just for the sake of it (primarily as Windows 10 is proceeds to receive safety updates):

It drains battery though idle

My most important frustration soon after updating to Home windows 11 was the way it burned through battery everyday living while sleeping. Because I largely get the job done on a desktop, my laptop computer can go unused for days on stop, so I’d have to preemptively charge it before use to stay clear of becoming trapped with a useless battery.

Why was this taking place? By default, Home windows 10 and Windows 11 use a mode termed Modern day Standby, which keeps the laptop linked to Wi-Fi in a lower-energy point out when you put it to snooze. This allows Home windows to quickly wake from standby and even download updates although the computer system is idle.

Regrettably, Modern-day Standby can also be a battery vampire, and even though I’d enabled it in Home windows 10, by some means it arrived back again with a vengeance in Home windows 11.

I did obtain a repair, however: Through this publish on ElevenForum, producing a small registry edit allows you disable Present day Standby through the Windows Regulate panel:

• Open up an elevated command prompt and enter the pursuing: REG Incorporate HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlPowerPowerSettingsF15576E8-98B7-4186-B944-EAFA664402D9 /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
• Pay a visit to Manage Panel > Power Choices > Improve Prepare Options > Alter Highly developed Power Options.
• Less than the “Balanced” profile, extend the “Networking connectivity in Standby” solution and find “Disable” although on battery.

Whilst I’m glad these alterations served, no one must have to make registry edits just to prevent idle battery drain.

Here’s a stress you could know about presently: In Windows 11, Microsoft eliminated the capacity to “never combine” taskbar things, generating it more difficult to multitask amongst various instances of a solitary plan. Microsoft also bought rid of Jumplists, which can screen swift actions or current data files when you right-click an icon in the taskbar or Begin Menu.

As recommended by my colleague Mark Hachman, I set this issue by installing Start out11, Stardock’s $6 utility that lets you restore the Start off Menu and taskbar to its previous functionality.

Stardock

But Start11 isn’t a excellent solution both. Its research function doesn’t always figure out newly installed systems, and often I’ll operate into a bug that necessitates rebooting the menu. Also, Begin11’s Jumplist for Typora, my composing application of preference, only exhibits “Frequent” paperwork instead of “Recent” kinds. Start out11 is even now a vast advancement around Home windows 11’s default Start out Menu and taskbar, but it’s much less productive for me than what Microsoft offered in Home windows 10.

The electrical power button doesn’t get the job done appropriate

Home windows 11 has also introduced a quirk to my Yoga C940’s energy button: When I press it, the LED indicator blinks for about 30 seconds, through which time it’s unattainable to turn the notebook again on. If I do not want to hold out for the light-weight to quit blinking, I will have to extended-press the button to drive a shutdown, then reboot the laptop computer (which probably normally takes about 30 seconds anyway).

Jared Newman / Foundry

Switching the energy button’s actions from Hibernate to Slumber manner didn’t enable, and I have however to occur across any other solutions. Stranger however, closing my laptop’s lid doesn’t lead to the exact habits.

For now, I have resigned myself to contemplating 2 times just before hitting the ability button. When this is just a minor nuisance total, it is also a persistent reminder of the difficulties Home windows 11 has brought on.

Monitor distinction (temporarily) acquired screwy

About a yr ago, I wrote about how some Intel-run laptops have a bizarre vehicle-distinction aspect that’s meant to preserve power but just finishes up generating the monitor appear dirty. At the time, I was equipped to disable this function through Intel’s Graphics Command Heart app devoid of any obvious hit to battery life.

But about a month in the past, I found that my laptop computer experienced reverted to its old distinction-correcting methods, and Intel Graphics Command Centre no for a longer time made available any way to deal with it. The requisite location merely disappeared, and the constant shifts in contrast ended up slowly and gradually driving me mad.

Jared Newman/IDG

Stranger nevertheless, the dilemma instantly solved by itself previous 7 days right after a prolonged again-and-forth with an Intel spokesman, and I was ready to disable Graphics Command Center’s counterproductive attempts at electric power administration. While I’m happy that my display screen is back to standard, I have not gained an rationalization for what went improper in the very first spot, and it makes me speculate how several other moderate frustrations people are tolerating with no crystal clear route to resolution.

It just feels slower (sometimes)

This final point hard to place a finger on, enable by itself measure in any goal way, but my laptop has sometimes felt slower and much less responsive considering that upgrading to Windows 11.

My Lenovo Yoga C940 has 10th-era Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor and 12GB of RAM, which ought to be much more than enough for my typical world-wide-web searching, emailing, and doc enhancing. Nonetheless at moments, the laptop can seem lethargic on bootup and gradual to change between apps or browser tabs. Even keyboard input once in a while feels laggy.

To be truthful, I have had plenty of stretches in which the notebook operates just fine—both on and off the charger—but that just helps make the occasional hiccup even much more vexing. I take quite superior treatment of my personal computers, and investigating the regular suspects (this sort of as startup and method tray apps) did not transform up any noticeable culprits. Yet again, it is hard to say if these issues are even straight similar to Windows 11.

But I bring it up since it matches into the overall sample of factors not doing work like they applied to, prompting me to expend an inordinate volume of time investigating why.

Most of the time, I’m enthusiastic about software updates. I was swift to undertake Home windows 10 when it released in 2015, and I constantly jump to the most up-to-date iOS or Android releases when they’re readily available (often even in beta type). Even when issues with all those updates occur, they are likely to get fixed really rapidly, and I don’t regret owning produced the soar.

Windows 11, for me, has been the unfortunate exception.

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