A Windows 11 Enshittification Checklist (Premium)

Many years ago, someone asked me how I could defend a company like Microsoft, which at that time lorded over personal computing in a uniquely homogeneous way. That was the wrong question: I don’t defend, support, or God help us all, cheerlead for Microsoft, and never have. I support, defend, and cheerlead for its customers, its users. These are real people who sometimes lose track of the nature of the relationship they have with a company that can’t seem to stop abusing them. We pay this company for services. Leaving aside any legal arguments one might make, it’s reasonable to expect to get what we want or were promised from this transaction. Just as it’s reasonable to cut ties and look elsewhere if Microsoft can’t or won’t deliver.

In some ways, this isn’t a new problem, as Windows has never been without its controversies. There have been dark years of doubt and uncertainty, of Microsoft putting its corporate interests ahead of the needs of its customers. But it’s fair to say that this type of behavior, which we now call enshittification, has escalated dramatically in recent years. And that Windows 11, in particular, has victimized its users with a steadily growing list of affronts, big and small, changes to the product that ignore the explicit choices and configurations we make, changes to behaviors that run contrary to decency and common sense, and changes to functionality that undermines the reasons we use Windows in the first place. We’re always had an uneasy relationship with Windows. But now it’s getting more aggressive.

The seeds for this enshittification were planted years ago, but it’s not necessary to document the perfect storm of events that brought us to where we are today. That may be interesting on some level, but it’s just a distraction. My concern, as always, is fixing the problems. And my recent foray into Windows 11 Enterprise is just an attempt to see whether some combination of workarounds, utilities, and other changes can turn the Windows 11 that Microsoft foists on its customers into the Windows 11 that those customers want and deserve.

But it’s also just one of many such attempts. It’s absolutely not the answer. But it may be an answer for some, or it may not. You can’t find out until you try. (Full disclosure: I feel like some version of making Windows 11 work as it does in its DMA-compliant configuration in the EEA is perhaps the closest we can get to the answer. I also believe we’ll get there.)

With all that in mind, let’s look at this logically and pragmatically. The list of ways in which Windows 11 is enshittified has grown steadily since its introduction nearly four years ago. There have been a few steps forward—small changes or reversals that are a net positive—but the overall trend is negative. That is, the list of problems is longer today than it was four years ago. We’re losing this fight.

The list of problems is likewise somewhat subjective. Some will...