Favorite version of Windows?

What is your favorite version of Windows and why?

Mine is Windows 7 (historical wise), because it pointed Windows in the right direction after Vista, and was one of the most solid OSs.  

I also very much like Windows 10, because it’s modern, always up to date, and offers countless, performance and security improvements. 

 

Conversation 26 comments

  • 4964

    11 January, 2017 - 10:18 pm

    <p>I now hate 7 and, not my choice, still use it at work. Slow to load, buggy old hardware drivers that often are no longer updated.</p>
    <p>Was OK with 8, liked 8.1, love 10</p>

    • 5477

      11 January, 2017 - 10:37 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#35798">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/robincapper">robincapper</a><a href="#35798">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>When Windows 7 came out in 2009, it was amazing. It still is a good OS, if you maintain and keep it updated. Windows 10 trumps it, in being modern, and with security, performance and other countless improvements</p>
      <p>I now use Windows 10 on everything.&nbsp;My dad uses Windows 7 on his Dell Dimension 9100. I had to clean install it over Windows XP, and was an absolute nightmare.&nbsp;It actually works pretty well now.</p>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 5530

    11 January, 2017 - 11:19 pm

    <p>Everyone knows that the best version of Windows is Windows 2000.</p>

    • 5942

      12 January, 2017 - 9:39 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#35821">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/FalseAgent">FalseAgent</a><a href="#35821">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Windows 2000 was amazing</p>

  • 224

    12 January, 2017 - 6:04 am

    <p>The newest version is always the best :D</p>
    <p>Work also forces me to use Windows 7 for now, but I try to install Windows 10 on anyone else’s machine if they let me.</p>
    <p>I think generally each version of Windows was better than the one before, even Vista was not that bad if experienced on a modern PC at the time, it brought a lot of new features compared to XP.</p>
    <p>After Windows 98, Windows 2000 was a big boost in stability but was crap for games, while Windows Me was a more modern platform for those of us that wanted to play games, XP then reuniting both these advantages.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>So really, even the hated versions brought smthn at least a bit better to the table :)</p>

  • 5027

    12 January, 2017 - 6:26 am

    <p>Windows 10 is easily my favourite version of Windows ever. &nbsp;Windows 7 was great in it’s time, but now when I’m forced to used it, after using windows 8 and now 10 for years it is actually rather ‘painful’ 🙂 &nbsp;It just feels so outdated today</p>

  • 830

    12 January, 2017 - 7:59 am

    <p>Not because it was the best version of Windows, but the fondest memories I have was Windows 3.11, which was installed on my first PC. &nbsp;</p>
    <p>After moving from my Atari ST, Windows 3.11 was my first move into ‘proper’ computing. &nbsp;Learning to mess around with the autoexec.bat and sys.ini to get the audio CD drive working.</p>
    <p>Dropping into DOS to play various games and having to micro manage the storage on the tiny HD. &nbsp;Great times.</p>

    • 5942

      12 January, 2017 - 9:43 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#35853">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/StevenLayton">StevenLayton</a><a href="#35853">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Windows 3.11 was also my first foray into computing. The integration with DOS and messing around with system memory brings back some nostalgia. I still keep a copy of both in a virtual environment to run some really old games. Great times indeed.</p>

  • 1087

    12 January, 2017 - 10:17 am

    <p>Windows 10 by far as it impacts so many technologies and towers…PC, mobile, xbox, touch, update/security methodologies, gaming, cloud, etc.</p>
    <p>And I think it works fantastically.&nbsp;</p>

  • 1377

    Premium Member
    12 January, 2017 - 9:46 pm

    <p>Any which can run Classic Shell, which is the configurable Start menu MSFT should have provided all along.</p>
    <p>In terms of specific OS features other than the launcher UI, Windows 8.1.1 due to its OneDrive integration. I’ve used 3rd party utilities for multiple virtual desktops, so that new feature in Windows 10 is NBD for me, and most other changes in Windows 10 vs Windows 8.1.1 for me wouldn’t have been even US$10 to upgrade. Good thing it was free.</p>

  • 5942

    12 January, 2017 - 10:04 pm

    <p>Here’s my list:<br /><br />Windows 10 – I really think this is the best version of Windows. They got a lot of stuff right and the things they didn’t (like settings and control panel separation) are gradually being fixed. This OS on a surface device is an incredible experience.</p>
    <p>Windows 7 – A true rockstar. Just a totally rock solid OS. Better than XP. Arguably better than Windows 10. Everything just works.</p>
    <p>Windows XP – Forever! I keep an old machine running this for the nostalgia. I tried to put a SSD in the machine and that was really difficult without trim support!&nbsp;Apparently this still has like 10% of the PC market share.</p>
    <p>Windows 2000 – Rock solid operating system. Easily&nbsp;overlooked because of greatness of XP and the ME debacle.</p>
    <p>Windows 95 – This was a really exciting time in technology and personal computing. The biggest&nbsp;change was the start menu and taskbar… which made seeing and switching windows a lot more intuitive.</p>
    <p>Windows 3.11/NT – For the nostalgia</p>
    <p>The worst:</p>
    <p>3. Windows 8 – Sinofsky’s monster. It introduced a touch based OS to desktop computing and alienated long-time windows users. Terrible timing with the rise of Apple and Google.</p>
    <p>2. Windows Vista – A buggy mess of an OS sandwiched between two of Microsoft’s greatest OSes. How did this one go so wrong?</p>
    <p>1. Windows ME – Mistake Edition.&nbsp;BSODs. Not built on the NT kernal. Conceived and executed at the last minute.</p>

    • 1377

      Premium Member
      13 January, 2017 - 6:18 pm

      <p><em><a href="#36081">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/moruobai">moruobai</a><a href="#36081">:</a></em></p>
      <p>Quibble: ME was a 98SE successor, so not unreasonable it wasn’t NT kernel. OTOH, it’s the only Windows version I can think of which provided ABSOLUTELY NO ADVANTAGE over its predecessor, 98SE.</p>

      • 9461

        14 January, 2017 - 6:18 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#36343">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/hrlngrv">hrlngrv</a><a href="#36343">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>ME introduced System Restore, Automatic Updates, and Universal Plug and Play. There were a lot of other improvements. The bad&nbsp;buzz&nbsp;started because fans expected an NT product and were disappointed, and as you saw with Vista and Windows 8, negative buzz amplifies faster than logic.&nbsp;</p>

        • 1377

          Premium Member
          14 January, 2017 - 9:06 pm

          <p><em><a href="#36477">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/Donkey_Gas">Donkey_Gas</a><a href="#36477">:</a></em></p>
          <p>ME was the least stable version I used with the possible exception of 3.0.</p>

          • 5664

            Premium Member
            16 January, 2017 - 12:52 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#36495">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/hrlngrv">hrlngrv</a><a href="#36495">:</a></em></blockquote>
            <p>Back in the day I dual-booted 2000 and Windows Me and it was fine. The big issue were terrible OEM installs. Any box I did a clean install of it on was as solid as 98 SE.</p>

    • 5477

      13 January, 2017 - 9:19 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#36081">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/moruobai">moruobai</a><a href="#36081">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I think Vista and Windows 8 came out in the wrong times. Windows 8 jumped the shark with the start screen, and computers booting right to it. Windows 8, overall, was a good OS, but suffered schizophrenia. Windows Vista had all sorts of issues, with especially drivers that worked in XP, not working period, in Vista. Also, in 2007, many computers had 512mb to 1GB of RAM, and single core processors, as well as insufficient graphics card. A computer that ran Windows XP like a champ, choked horribly in Vista, and couldn’t even play videos, because of no drivers available. Windows ME should have been skipped.</p>

  • 6963

    13 January, 2017 - 1:18 pm

    <p>My favorite is Windows 10 version 1511. I don’t like the start menu in 1607 and that you can’t turn off Cortana anymore.</p>
    <p>I’m a longtime fan of the modern / flat UI. In fact I made a custom XP skin over ten years ago that was almost identical to what we now have in Windows 10: Flat design with the same title bar, min/max/close icons &amp; task bar with the same active highlights / bars below running apps). I should try to find some screenshots from back then. I was amazed to see how close win10 resembled&nbsp;my old custom skin when I&nbsp;saw the first real windows 10 builds :)</p>
    <p>For those saying Windows 2000 was the best – you couldn’t be further from the truth. Windows 2000 was an unlocked door with a neon sign in front of it showing the amount of money to be found inside. I’ve had multiple issues&nbsp;with keyloggers and money being withdrawn from my credit card without my consent. Only after XP SP2 Microsoft got their security act together.</p>

    • 1959

      Premium Member
      16 January, 2017 - 11:13 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#36234">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/hard_candy">hard_candy</a><a href="#36234">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>RE: Windows 2000 – Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Aside from the security issues, the PnP support in 2000 was questionable at best and compatibility with the software&nbsp;and drivers&nbsp;of the day&nbsp;was always a crapshoot. I remember being astonished upon installing XP for the first that that I had a completely clean Device Manager. 2000 never managed that.</p>

  • 5611

    13 January, 2017 - 8:47 pm

    <p>My favourite is Windows 10. I like the style, I like the UI, I like how it works on my Surface Pro. I like that it has a central store for applications. I like that the UWP platform. I like how it works well with my Windows 10&nbsp;phone too. Cortana is also great!</p>

  • 9461

    14 January, 2017 - 6:50 pm

    <p>Windows 10. It’s fast, solid, and modern, and if you’re using the Insider builds, constantly changing.&nbsp;I especially like that Microsoft is responding to feedback in realtime. The old monolithic release model now seems insane: guess what hardware will exist in 3 years, and code for that, then on release, dissolve that team and&nbsp;start coding for the fictional 3-years-from-now.</p>

  • 5486

    15 January, 2017 - 5:30 am

    <p>Windows 2000 really was an amazing O/S. Took WinNT and turned it into a true 32-bit powerhouse. After that, Win7 was (and still is) the best desktop O/S MS ever produced. They got just about everything right (after the Vista debacle), and it’s also probably the most stable O/S as well – it’s pretty bulletproof. Win10 is ‘meh’. MS just seem to be trying to do too much with it, and it introduces too many issues and bugs because of it. For the Enterprise, all MS really had to do was update Win7 while keeping the same core design. That would have kept corporates happy.</p>

  • 5942

    15 January, 2017 - 9:10 am

    <p>LOL. This thread has got me trying to relive the past by installing a bunch of these OS’ in VirtualBox. Aahh – drivers are a pain! Seriously looking hard at an old IBM Aptiva E series P3 256MB ram with a Savage4 video card on ebay (woo boy). Retro computing for the win!</p>

  • 2

    Premium Member
    15 January, 2017 - 11:37 am

    <p>Windows 10, despite ongoing (and legit) concerns about upgrade reliability. It’s not perfect, but it’s clean and modern and works well.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>The way I make sure this is real is to go back and use older versions.&nbsp;I always miss Windows 10.</p>

    • 1959

      Premium Member
      16 January, 2017 - 11:10 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#36536">In reply to </a><a href="../../../../users/paul-thurrott">Paul Thurrott</a><a href="#36536">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>This has been my feeling about every version of Windows from 2000 on. Going backwards always felt like a downgrade. Although switching between 8.0 and 7 was always a toss up from UI perspective, the fact that 8 always felt faster than 7 made it enough that I wanted to stick with 8. </p>

  • 10038

    16 January, 2017 - 5:21 am

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  • 4778

    17 January, 2017 - 2:07 pm

    <p>Windows 7 hands down. Still the cleanest, simplest, pro-user interface. The Start button menu is nice and clean.&nbsp;</p>
    <p>I still have a big soft spot for Win2K, but it wasn’t as good as people remember it.</p>

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