Upgrading to Windows 11, An Odyssey

I currently have two PCs running Windows 10 that can't be upgraded to Windows 11, and with Microsoft recently sunsetting Windows 10 it was way past time for me to get a new machine, so I did. It's state of the art and I love it, but it's brought about a whole new set of challenges for me.

Both of my existing PCs, a desktop and a laptop, are old and tired, and between the two I have about a terabyte of docs, pics and videos, plus all kinds of old outdated software, so I wanted to start fresh and combine everything into one system running the latest software. Easy, straightforward plan, right? Mostly.

In preparation for the cutover, I copied all of the data I wanted to keep from both PCs to an external hard drive and then started to set up the new laptop. Microsoft makes things relatively easy to set up a PC now, if you want to play by their rules. I, however, do not, and herein lies the problem. I wanted to set the new PC up with local accounts, and they make that awfully hard to do these days. They want you to sign into new PCs with your Microsoft account, there's no local account option anymore, at least not any that are easily accessible, and they want you to live and play in the cloud. No thanks, not a fan. I don't want all of my data being sucked up into the cloud for a multitude of reasons. Number one is privacy, you really don't want things like your tax docs and medical records floating around in the ether. Number two is that I have way too much data, it would cost me a small fortune per month to store a terabyte of data on OneDrive, so I planned accordingly and got a PC with a huge solid state hard drive. Reason number three is that I like to be able to use my PCs offline, I don't want to be dependent on network availability to access my stuff. Three strikes and you're out, so it's local accounts for me, and OneDrive gets turned off.

To accomplish this in Windows 11, you need to interrupt the OOBE (Out Of Box Setup Experience) at just the right moment with a "shift - function - F10" keystroke, that apparently takes more finesse than I possess, but I finally got it to work after a couple of reboots. This key sequence brings you to a command prompt and from there you need to enter: Start ms-cxh:localonly This command causes the PC to reboot and allows you to set it up without a network connection and create local accounts. Of course, Microsoft fights you the whole way with annoying little pop-up suggestions like "Log in to your Microsoft account to get the full user experience", and "You're not protected, let us back up your files and settings". Doesn't matter that my data is still nowhere near the new computer, I'm just "not safe" by their way of thinking. So frustrating.

Anyways, I got past all of that and created two local accounts: an admin account for installing things and a standard user account for everyday use. I've found that this is the best method for protecting your device, if you accidentally download malware while on the user account, it can't install without you raising your privileges by logging into the admin account. It's a nice little safety valve.

Next, I started removing all of the bloatware that comes on a new PC, this is important to do before you install the things you really want and need. Case in point; Microsoft puts a trial copy of Office onto all new machines and because I purchased a full copy of Office Home edition, it had to go. You would think the Office installer would take care of things like that, but it doesn't, and you can't do a clean install of Office until you remove it, so I did. I also got rid of, or hid, a bunch of other non-essential crap, and changed all of the settings to my liking. Making progress!

The next step was downloading and installing my new copy of Office Home 2024. I thought this would be pretty straight forward as well, but surprise; it is not.

Office 2024 requires you to be logged into your Microsoft account to both install and use it. This means that even if you're set up as a local user and you've purchased a full copy of Office, you need to be logged into Microsoft whenever you use Office products. It also turned OneDrive back on, backed up my settings and files, and it used my Microsoft credentials to log me into Edge; "get points and bucks for your search data!" Again, no thank you. Frustration levels rising...

Easy fix though, I went back into OneDrive and turned it off, again, amid more protestation, and I logged out of Edge. This still leaves you logged into your Office products and able to use them, so I'm good with that to some degree. There was a small benefit to this extra step they forced me into; when I logged in it triggered the Windows 10 ESU (Extended Service Updates) and my old machines started receiving patches again, so I guess letting it back up my settings and files on a relatively empty machine was worth it. I was shocked at how fast it glommed onto my new machine and backed it up unbidden though, but it is what it is. It is nice to have a little protection on the old devices while I cut over.

Office wasn't done surprising me yet, though. I told you it's been a long time since I'd upgraded, so long that my old copy of Office came with Outlook, and that's no longer the case. You can only get a full copy of Outlook with the Office Business Edition now. With the Home version, you need to download "New Outlook", which is part of the Office 365 suite and is a web-based product. Why I would want to install Office 365 on top of my full copy of Office Home still eludes me, although Microsoft suggests that it will make all of my other devices more productive... The layman's translation to that is that they want access to all of your phone's data as well. Speaking of access to all of your data, New Outlook wants you to give Microsoft permission for them to access all of your contacts and emails. I don't know about you, but I have hundreds of business, personal and organizational addresses, and it would be wrong for me to hand that data over to a third party, it would be a breach of trust. My provider already has access to it, why would I give it to someone else just to use a third-party mail client? Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent.

I do like to have an email client though, as it allows me to combine all of my accounts into one view and it also gives you more features and flexibility than webmail alone. After a little research I've narrowed it down to a couple of options to replace Outlook. I'm currently experimenting with eM Client as an alternative. So far, so good, I'll keep you posted as I plod along. I really wish that there was an Apple Mail app available for Windows, it's got them all beat for privacy, functionality and ease of setup in my opinion, but there isn't.

One more tip before I wrap this up, and this is important; if you're an iTunes user, you are much better served going directly to Apple's website and downloading the Windows 64 bit version of iTunes instead of installing the Apple Music, Apple TV and Apple Devices apps from the Microsoft store. When you install the apps, you can have a really hard time syncing your devices, especially if you still have any iPods. The Apple Devices app, which you need to manually sync any Apple device, including iPhones, has some awful ratings, some mentioning bricking of phones. The Apple TV and Apple Music apps themselves both work fine, but when either one is installed, they eviscerate iTunes, turning it into a podcast and eBook only shell of itself, and forcing you to download the third app, Apple Devices, for synching, and that's just too risky for me. I'm not using any 1-star rated app to back up and manage my phone. There are literally thousands of reviews from unhappy users about the Apple Devices app for Windows. Stay away, stay far, far away.

So, this exercise in modernization and consolidation has turned into a GIANT project for me, but I've learned a lot. It doesn't have to be so difficult for you though, if you want to roll with the program and set up as a "cloud first device". That's just not what I want, and when I pay this much money for a whole new setup, I want some say in the matter. I understand Microsoft's reasoning, they're basically giving you the Windows OS for free, and making their money from subscription services and packaging deals. Personally, I'd rather pay for my software and own and use it as I see fit. One thing I've learned is that nothing is free in the IT world, you either pay cash money for something, or you pay with your personal information, and in my opinion, your PI is much more valuable than money these days. It's a conundrum we all have to face in this digital age. 

At the very least, it would be nice if they gave you the option to set the machine up locally without having to break out of the setup. If you're not aware of this requirement beforehand, it's a difficult thing to recover from, and that's their thinking, I guess. It feels slippery and disingenuous to me, and I'm really glad I did my homework before I unboxed. An opt out for OneDrive would be greatly appreciated as well, it's annoying and frustrating. The average user isn't going to deviate from the network centric setup, only the fussy old users like me, so they wouldn't be losing any revenue. It would just be the right thing to do. 

Don't get me wrong, I really love my new machine and some of the new features. Windows 11 is streamlined and fast, and not that hard to get used to, all things considered. This latest crop of machines is amazing.as well, so this isn't a Microsoft or big tech hit piece, I just feel that it's important that they know we want, and need, more input into our own setup processes and PI management.

OK, I'm done grousing for now, I've droned on long enough. Stay tuned though; I have some updates and reviews coming up of the actual system I ended up going with, as well as a few apps I'm test driving. First, I'm gonna go take a couple Tylenol and lie down for a while...