The Windows Tier List

[@typingcat1814]

Windows OS versions stick around for so long, each one needs two different tier rankings, "At Launch" and "Mature".

[@MrFirsito]

youre right, vista was amazing at the end, same xp, same windows 8.1 ... windows 10 is amazing right now, am expecting win11 will be amazing in few years, microsoft normal procedure

[@kreuner11]

​@@MrFirsitomost computers can't install windows 11

[@Dhruv-qw7jf]

well that can be said for most OSes, like Android wasn't that good at launch but now its (arguably) the best mobile OS.

[@poisonsnivy6439]

@@MrFirsitoi would say Windows 10 is amazing right now with a couple of modifications, a vanilla install of 10 is just a worse windows 7

[@jankees4037]

Windows 8.1 is actually the superior version of Windows 7. No flaws, metro and gadgets just turn it all of. I find Windows 8.1 to be the best Windows ever.

[@Account.for.Comment]

XP may be terrible objectively for many security and others, but for UI and Experience and other stuff, it was beautiful. All the bloat that I can tolerate and love. I found nothing unnessary that I hate about it. That why everyone have rose color glass. It was the best.

[@Gregorius421]

We used XP since its release till Windows 7. It was the best option available.

[@lingux_yt]

terrible, it had blue screens of de4th all the time

[@Account.for.Comment]

@@lingux_yt but when there is no bsod, there is no Cortana, no Search that had Bing in it. Start Menu has no lousy metro apps, If I don't like the XP start menu, I can switch back to the 1990s version. No need for a Microsoft account or an email address. Great wallpapers to choose from, and not new ones shown up randomly in start screen for whatever dumb reasons. No Settings, just Control Panel. Run get you quickly. And if I don't like something, disable it is easy, and it will not show up in the next update. XP UI/UX are great. Win7 remove a few things but overall added what XP lacked. That's why these two are so beloved, while what WIndows the last 10 years are so despised, even if they have better security.

[@TheTytan007]

UX was OK but XP was a disaster in a long term and many development problems Vista had were directly linked to XP being objectively unfinished

[@kuklama0706]

​@@lingux_yt no it did not.

[@noahheninger]

I loved Windows 7 and held onto it for dear life until about a year ago. I feel like 7 gave the most freedom with the least amount of hassle.

[@chandlerbing7570]

I agree. Had to set a copy up for a client that needed legacy software. Honestly apart from the fact I had to hunt for drivers for the laptop, and the 300+ updates, I had to do nothing to the OS. No Turning off unnecessary features, no uninstalling apps that aren't needed, no having to uninstall apps again that aren't needed but Microsoft insisted on reinstalling them, no having to re disable the features that Microsoft reenabled after an update.

[@_modiX]

7 was my dream of an OS back to the day, I loved it so much and I made use of many of its features, like libraries etc.. I also loved the Aero Theme and nothing else can compete with it these days.

[@rp7r54]

WINDOWS 7 GOAT GREAT OF ALL TIME

[@jankees4037]

I moved from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 now. It is tough to run motherboards these days with W7. No one makes drivers anymore much for that system.

[@_modiX]

@@jankees4037 It's unfortunate that software support eventually drops. Unless W7 is open-source, there is nothing you can do about it. I moved to macOS for a more consistent experience and I look into Linux as a daily driver to free myself from corporate eventually.

[@protator]

the best thing about 95 was how random it/the installer was ... you could re-install it five times on the same machine and each time the error messages you got after the first boot-up were different ones. Fun times

[@RadioactiveBlueberry]

I've had similar behavior even with some Linux installer, root cause being overheating CPU. All I needed to do was to replace the fan.

[@archangel_one]

That's because you kept sticking the disks in backwards and in the wrong order.😁 My trick was to reformat first.

[@nezhakan]

I got first release of 95 on actual 486 machine and it is solid as rock. While on pentium it was pain in the ass.

[@HattoriZero]

You just got a bad motherboard with leaky capacitors or a bad RAM stick.

[@protator]

@@HattoriZero Well, those issues went away when I switched to 98, but who knows

[@TomWillwerth]

I started my IT career in a Windows 2000 environment and didn't realize how good those times were until much later.

[@vitorgoncalves7527]

For me, Windows 11 wouldn't pass the bad tier. I hate how dumb down the interface is, how the useless the search is, how the start menu wastes screen space, the absolute mess of a control panel, how microsoft tries to enforce their account and of course the insane amount of telemetry. Unless this changes in the future, there is no way I will install it on any of my computers.

[@iovyz7511]

based

[@MichaelMacaluso]

I remember getting windows 2000 down to about 12megs in memory. Lots of great things there. We went from FAT to NFTS, Plug and play USB that worked, Active Directory, NT Kernel. Such a good time to be into computers.

[@graysonpeddie]

Wow... I wish I had Windows 2000 at the time, but I was still a late teenager at the time... :(

[@dewguy453]

NTFS*

[@bojanmajnaric]

You are completely right. Win 2k was absolutely fantastic and is probably the best system to install / vm today for all retro needs. So many people slept on it and nowadays run 98 / xp vms but this is the true gold.

[@FijiAura_GD]

I screenshot nft

[@heinrichagrippa5681]

@@graysonpeddie I was also a late teenager at the time... with Windows 2000.

[@Tehniker]

95 , 98SE , XP , Win7 were all excellent for me. I think I used XP and 7 the most. I work with Vending Machines and we still have a lot with Windows XP Embedded running 24/7 like a charm. 😊

[@WalterKnox]

The ability to run extremely long hours without crashing or becoming bogged down is one of XPs great strenghts. I have several computers that serve dedicated tasks and run 24/7 that run XP and have been running constantly for months to years without any complaints. I run a part 15 AM radio station, and the machine that plays the music for said station was originally running Windows 7, but after around 3 or 4 weeks of uptime, Windows 7 became unstable and I either got a bluescreen, or it would become so bogged down that it couldn't play the audio properly. I "downgraded" that system to XP about a year ago, and it has never given me that issue again.

[@Yarumasi]

98SE was cool although that was when I was starting to feel the slog of the 90s era Windows. XP couldn't have come any faster honestly.

[@michamarkowski2204]

@@WalterKnox I gave my last tower PC to my mom 15 or more years ago. It had XP. I had to reinstall it only thrice: twice because motherboard died and once because a HDD died. Other than that the OS was stable AF.

[@samheartnet]

You did NOT just put vista over xp

[@ChristianDuncan]

Vista deserves to be over XP

[@ukigames7664]

​@@ChristianDuncan yes

[@mr.s4ndman]

​@@ChristianDuncan how

[@ChristianDuncan]

@@mr.s4ndman Vista is a major rewrite of Windows under the hood, as well as major security improvements over XP, the visual changes are a nice upgrade, there hasn't been a major rewrite of the OS since Vista and every version after it is nothing but minor updates at this point

[@mr.s4ndman]

@@ChristianDuncan damn

[@GorczakWiktor]

I'd love you to elaborate on Windows 2000's strength comparing to XP. What I mean is that I have a feeling that architecturally those weren't two different, the impression that the latter was a "virus magnet" might've come from the fact that it was much more widely used in the residential environment. In the end, many security features from 2000 found their way to XP and were actually improved with SP2. But maybe I'm wrong, I never used those "professionally"

[@adamgreenhill110]

You're right - XP was built from 2000, and finally brought Windows NT to consumers. For business use, people weren't using random websites and installing random software, so 2000 had a better reputation

[@thej3799]

Server 2003 was the best NT kernel from the era. To this day I have a working VM of server03 that I've copied around since the mid-2000s.

[@Cobinja]

98 SE was the best DOS-based WIndows, 7 was the best NT based one. Everything since 7 belongs where the sun don't shine.

[@gregbirger5810]

Could not agree more. 100% spot on.

[@loxo5526]

Totally agree. Windows 11 to me it's just 10 but harder to use and more bloated

[@greggmacdonald9644]

7 was awesome! Sadly, Microsoft's operating systems keep getting worse and worse, it's really annoying.

[@griffin1366]

As another comment said. It really needs to be launch vs "final product" list as so much happens during its life cycle. I would personally put Windows 8.1 up a tier. I just had a really experience on it. XP up a tier as well. Overall a solid list I can agree with!

[@Gregorius421]

With Classic Shell, I really liked Win 8.1. It was less of a burden to set up and maintain.

[@griffin1366]

@@Gregorius421 Yep. Classic Shell made it so much better.

[@NAKADZI]

I have to agree about Win8.1, especially when it comes to the *Embedded Industry* edition (+ replacement of the hideous Start menu with "StartIsBack" or "Classic Shell"; and also the "Aero Lite" theme with minimal borders) - as it is extremely optimized for older systems built on x86 processors of 2006-2010. In most cases, when I installed it (Embedded Industry edition) as a pure upgrade from Win7, it outperformed Win7 (usually in terms of system startup speed from HDD) or was on par in terms of responsiveness and overall performance.

[@NAKADZI]

Currently, it can be used in conjunction with a modern version of Chromium called *Supermium* , which is a fork with minimal changes to be used on Windows Vista/7/8.1. It's still in WIP state, as a respected developer under the nickname "win32ss" is currently the only one behind this project. If you are a little confused by the WIP status of "Supermium" - you can temporarily (until the project leaves the WIP state) use an optimized fork of Chromium ESR v109 called "Thorium" which is available on "thorium-win7" repository.

[@BlobBlobkins]

Windows 2000 and XP was my favourite. XP needed tons of fixes and tweaks tho :(

[@chrisjlocke]

Windows 2000 was rock solid. Didnt often have Explorer issues like nowadays, or even blue-screens. I was developing in VB6 and found it a great experience.

[@gregbirger5810]

Every Microsoft OS needs tons of fixes & tweaks! ;-) Even the high point of Win7 needs security tweaks among others.

[@thunderbolt10031]

That was really interesting insight on Windows 7. I was an avid Vista user. I was using it on hardware it was designed for and it was fast and it remains the only Windows version I've used as my main OS that never gave me a blue screen. When I jumped ship to 7 when Vista lost support, I noticed that it was bogging down abnormally quick, it had memory management issues and overall got more buggy the longer I used it. I never had an explanation for this, especially since I never experienced this with Vista. We had a Vista machine that ran for 10 years and it was as fast at the time it was retired as it was when it was new, which was madly impressive to me.

[@barcigian]

There is abaolutely ZERO excuses for Windows 11 to consume 4 gigs of RAM for itself. There is absolutely ZERO excuses for Windows 11 to send me advertisement (actually it's illegal, isn't it?) I use because I have no other choice.

[@chriswheatley3146]

Windows ME was kind of a rush job release due to the fact that people at the time thought Windows 2000 was the next version of Windows after 98SE. However it lacked a lot of compatibility; especially with games. With 2000 and XP, I still remember the nightmares of dealing with the Nimda and CodeRed viruses. Due to those affecting 2000 as well, I wouldn't put in in Excellent as the system would instantly get hit as soon as it went online without having SP3 installed on it. I had 2k advanced Server at the time and those viruses took down all 4 of the family computers running windows in the house; all stemming initially from the 2k advanced server install.

[@SteelRiderCarl]

Windows 7 was absolute GOD TIER until M$ started deprecating the life out of it. Any newer version hasn't been fit to lick dog waste off of Windows 7's boots.

[@TeheHehe-xp8to]

11 was great, S tier, it was the sole reason I started using Linux so I am very grateful for its existence now

[@BombataIsReal]

You had me in the first half

[@MrBlackdragon1230]

I dont care the hate I might get for it but Vista was my favorite OS. I went out and built a new gaming rig and bought the Ultimate edition of it and had almost no problems ever from it.

[@Dave-bp6ju]

I think you got XP wrong - for one simple reason. That time was the Internet Boom. XP was just there to support it. I suppose any other Windows released during that time would be the same - we just had to learn the new ways. XP was plainly "improved Win2k for masses".

[@silvioantonio6952]

Vista, the OS who made everyone wants to go back to XP. Thats how bad it was.

[@RoweenAnopheles]

I'd say ... Thanks Microsoft. For releasing Windows 11. Because of it, now I've found the joy of using Linux Mint. Without it, I would never know the Linux World and 2023 technology is so awesome. So, thanks.

[@tomspencer1364]

A team that listens to their customers and produces an excellent product. The opposite of Microsoft.

[@pneubreu]

I completely agree. I've followed the same journey. I tolerated Windows 10, but after using 11 for a bit I couldn't stay on it anymore. So thanks to Microsoft I now use Debian on my main system.

[@Codyslx]

Thanks to microsoft, i'm using windows 11.

[@xpusostomos]

Win 2000 didn't have viruses because nobody used it. It didn't run half the software out there, and it couldn't talk to half the hardware out there.

[@pdcmoreira]

My first computer had Windows Me. For me it was the best thing ever, despite the insane amount of problems it had, which I thought was normal and was always bugging the local IT guy who sold it to me for help. Looking back, I spent a lot of time fighting the OS and trying stuff and that's probably one of the reasons I ended up pursuing a career in IT, which led me to become a developer. So, thanks Windows Me for everything!

[@Radidsh]

For the most part I agree with this tier list, more than I thought that I would! My only change, personally, would be to put Windows 8 and 8.1 higher on the list. They felt really responsive, they kept a lot of the administrative menues from Windows 7 (as opposed to Windows 10 which increasingly over time started forcing the majority of administrative tools through the new Settings app), and while the full screen Start menu was off-putting for me in the very beginning, it is the only Start menu which I truly felt home with after I customised it, and I became so used to it that I did something similar with a full screen Start menu in Windows 10. Windows 8, to me, took the parts of Windows 7 that I was most fond of and made them feel familiar, yet perhaps more modernised. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Windows 10, and I like to say that it is the best Windows operating system released up to that point in time, simultaneously as being one of the very worst. Windows 10 improved and also introduced some really cool stuff, but over the years, I have felt allergic to Windows 10. Helping customers daily since its release, both in corporate environments and in a computer workshop, there are so many things which have caused a massive headache which I have never before seen in any Windows version prior, and I could go on about these all night. Unlike earlier Windows operating systems, Windows 10 underwent big changes under the hood twice a year, which meant that it would download the entire Windows operating system anew, install itself onto your harddrive/SSD, then afterwards try to migrate programs, settings and files seamlessly to the new revision. This went wrong much more than it should. If such a in-place (automatic and forced, mind you) upgrade failed, it was designed to seamlessly roll back to the previous revision, but often it would simply be stuck in a bootloop or on a blank screen. There were many corporate critical computers which would be forced to download the next revision upgrade, the operating system would crash and become unusable, and after forcefully managing to revert the upgrade via rescue media, it would immediately tell you that you needed the update and start re-downloading the big update, with a progress bar and no way to cancel it, despite it already having failed and fully crashed moments prior. Disabling Windows Update services and registry fixes would be reverted within a day as they were not seen as a setting, Windows viewed them as bugs. Furthermore, all blocks of known Windows sites and IP addresses in Windows Firewall and in the Hosts file would be ignored, still allowing communication to those sites. At one point in time, Windows calmed down, and disabling Windows Update services etc. often stayed that way, for a while at least. Well, until Microsoft decides to change that during an update again. At any rate, things became much better with and after revision 1909, as Microsoft made changes to its revisional upgrade system, thankfully. Windows 10 has also "mutated" a lot throughout the years, with the constant moving around and sometimes removal of useful administrative features so that we have to search for them, and then suddenly removed all-together in one of the updates, sometimes even re-introduced in a later update, without documentation. One feature I tended to use was ICS, which was removed as it was deemed unnecessary, but was later re-introduced through a separate update. Perhaps not the best of examples, but in all versions of Windows, including the first few revisions of Windows 10, you could right-click This PC (My Computer), click Properties, and you had a handy overview of the PC in the manner you were used to, with links to System Restore and Advanced System Settings. After a certain update, right-clicking This PC and clicking Properties would bring you to the new Settings app with a different summary page, but hitting Win + Break would still bring up the classic summary screen. After yet another update later on, the hotkey would also bring you to the new summary. Some updates later, the hotkey would bring up the classical menu. Why all these changes? Not able to stay the slightest persistent makes the system a royal pain to navigate! Another major pain was the fact that with Windows 10, System Protection (aka. System Restore) was for the first time *off by default*. I saw a few handful times when this was turned on, but for the most part, this was disabled, so if an update crashed your computer, you could no longer revert to a previous state. This also happened a lot with upgrading from Windows 7 and 8.1 to Windows 10. In 7 and 8.1, System Protection would naturally be enabled as this was always the default setting, while after Windows 10 was installed, the feature would be disabled, to save storage space presumably. But that is not to say that I hate everything about Windows 10. As I said, it is also excellent in some regards. (This could have been introduced in Windows 8, but I am fairly sure it was introduced in Windows 10, it certainly was not there in Windows 7 Home Premium / Professional) For the first time, you could actually do a disaster recovery by simply moving your system drive from one computer to another. With Windows 7 and earlier, you would typically encounter Stop errors and/or bootloops if you put a system drive in a different computer. Although you need to ensure that BIOS uses the correct HDD mode (AHCI/RAID/IDE) and correct BIOS mode (UEFI vs Legacy BIOS) Windows 10 intelligently notices a change in hardware, like motherboard and other base drivers, and reconfigures base drivers so that it can boot successfully in most cases. Drivers are also now much more seamlessly and quickly installed, often without user intervention. Although the following were introduced in Windows 8 or 8.1, product keys now are converted to digital licenses, so if you re-install the same edition as before, Windows should now activate automatically upon Internet connectivity, and not require you to type in your product key manually. Speaking of product activation, it is also possible to use Windows 10 without activating, if you do not mind certain restrictions that may apply to you (you may be unable to change the desktop wallpaper, and there will likely be a watermark on your desktop wallpaper and in the Settings app telling you that you have not yet activated). That is just at the top of my head that I can think of right now, my mind is tired and I am two minutes from heading into sleep. Windows ME was truly awful, it only gave me a few Stop errors a day on a good day. It was an interesting mess of an operating system, though. I heard one of the reasons it was so unstable was that it was an in-between mix between Windows 98 and Windows 2000, and that drivers were very poorly written. Like you, I was very fond of Windows Vista, and to this day, I do sort of miss it, if only for its lovely visuals. While Vista did give me a lot of trouble in the start, after the first service pack, the system treated me really well. A controversial opinion, but imagine how boring this world would be if we all had the exact same opinion. Good night, everyone.

[@tomclanys]

Amen about the updates, amen about the settings. Control panel was the best, and system settings android-style just suck on 10, you can never find anything and most of the useful stuff is hidden and not even there. Also, for the system restore, I remember I had to disable it in win 7 as some viruses would just hide in there and restore themselves after being removed by any antivirus. Since then I never used it again. Performance wise Win 10 is very good, stability is meh - it never crashed, but needs to be restarted once in a while because it starts stuttering if too much RAM is used, almost if a system process was swapped away. It's also a huge pain to configure and if left with autoupdates enabled even in a tiny bit, something will change and break without the system telling you at all that it did it.

[@deanstyles2567]

I actually agree with you on Vista. The issue was that OEMs sold PCs with hardware well below what Vista required...they were preloading it on PCs with 256MB of RAM! I bought a cheap Vista laptop back in the day and after putting in a 2GB stick it ran fine. The main changes I'd make is that I'd move 10 to great, and 11 is borderline between average and good, although I'd put 11 over 8.1 so there's that.

[@blendernoob64]

Windows 11 has been getting slower and more unstable as time goes on. The thing saving it from being the worst windows is windows 8 exists. Windows 7 is my favorite overall, windows xp looked the best and is most nostalgic, and windows 10 was pretty nice too.

[@thegreathuir]

Windows 8 has what Windows 11 doesn't have, optimization. The bad things about Windows 8 were its terrible user interface and ergonomics for desktop users, but otherwise, it's a great system.

[@Dalton4D]

i like how windows early on went from bad to better then as we got more into the future it took a 180 and went from being good to getting worse

[@TheSpamMuncher]

I love vista. Although I was a child, but I remember the UI so well, and Win7 is my most favorite.

[@HyproTube]

I dunno man, I ran XP for a long time and I can't remember having any major issues with viruses. I went many years without having to ever reinstall the OS (maybe never?). I think it just depends on how responsible a user is in terms of downloading/installing random stuff and keeping your system properly maintained. I definitely installed some less-than-legit stuff back in the day, but I tried to keep up on housekeeping, scanning for viruses, etc. XP deserves a little more love IMO.

[@LibertyRapsher]

Over the last 7 years I've been a Linux guy, however I have insanely fond memories of XP. It was my favorite Microsoft span by far. XP was a nightmare for novice computer users though... every single one of my friends computers I went on during that time was a mess and I became the computer fix guy, but for anyone with moderate computer skills xp was a nice, fun, versatile operating system... it was before Microsoft became ultra sinister so they simply created the best operating system possible (especially with Windows 8 and beyond, you would think that Microsoft tried to create the worst operating system possible and wanted their operating system to fail because they couldn't have done any worse then what they did and they became so blatantly sinister) and XP just did everything right to anyone who had enough computer knowledge to maintain their computer. It had the best layout, it was snappy, etc... It was by far the quickest Microsoft operating system by far to get organized after a fresh install. If I were to go back in time I would have used Microsoft through the XP years and then I would switch to Linux.

[@eutral]

I haven't really used the earlier versions of Windows, but my ranking of what I have used would be: 1. Windows 7 2. Windows XP 3. Windows 11 4. Windows 10 5. Windows 8 While I respect your opinion, the deal with Windows XP was that it was the first home user release not based on MSDOS, using the new NT base instead, while being quite lightweight. Thus it was kept simple and stable. This is more personal, but the visuals and audio are also just iconic

[@arghpee]

Windows 11 has ads now. Bad tier

[@mystrymonky]

i told myself i’d never switch from 7 to 8. always said i’d wait for “9” lol. now im gonna wait for 12

[@MrSaywutnow]

My parents had a security scare last year on Windows 11 - my mother clicked on an ad while playing Freecell, and it turned out to be a ransom attempt (I rebooted the computer, and no damage was done). It would appear that Microsoft doesn't even vet the advertisements. That makes it bad tier all on its own for me. The Recall feature they're going to be implementing knocks it down to ABSOLUTE WORST in my opinion. The impending Windows 10 EoL coupled with my refusal to get Windows 11 is what finally motivated me to switch to Linux.

[@fexploder3281]

Exactly. It is also probably still going to introduce Recall with Copilot and the bloatware and telemetry are probably worse than Windows 10 so I would also put it in the bad tier or maybe the average if it is debloated and has some of Microsoft's crap removed from it but even then, I would still put Windows 7 above that and anything that came after it any day now due to how Microsoft makes the UI inconsistent and ugly to look at in newer versions.

[@soumyadeepsengupta9797]

Worst tier

[@soumyadeepsengupta9797]

@@mystrymonky12 will be worsened by AI garbage

[@solscribe]

I think you are spot on with this tier list. I agree with where you placed each OS, and thinking of those systems both in how they were in their times and in retrospect. I like to experiment with Windows OS a lot, and hearing your opinions were really interesting.

[@bvd_vlvd]

I actually love the list, all but maybe 8.1. I feel like you're overlooking it as an 8 enhancement but in my experience it's more like a 98 to 98 SE type of upgrade. They gave back the computer to your hands and it wasn't as bloated and locked down as 10 which means you'd get the very best performance out of any windows OS while also having a fairly recent system. If it was called windows 9, it would have been so much bigger than 10, I am completely certain. It really took the best of 7 and 10 and failed for its poor marketing. Rest in peace sweet prince.

[@ShiroCh_ID]

actually, windows 10 started as windows 8.1 update to Unify/seamlessifying UWP Apps and WIn32 Programs, but it went downhill since Microsoft turn it way into System as a Services Type of thing and thus makes windows 10

[@bvd_vlvd]

@@ShiroCh_ID I mean every windows starts as a sort of update. Vista might not be so obvious but it's because it began as Longhorn that looks like a Vista/XP mutation. After all, they all are just Windows NT, just different updates

[@thomasthereal4067]

Exactly. My parents bought me a laptop with Windows 8 on it and I was sceptical about it. But after it updatet to 8.1, it was awesome. I used to play games on my dads PC with Windows 7. So yeah 8.1 is objectively better than 7.

[@bvd_vlvd]

@@thomasthereal4067 Shame that they died on the same day so it had a shorter life, but there's no point in keeping it afloat if you failed to promote it so no one's using it

[@GDNachoo]

8.1 last good windows

[@CrazedPerformanceRepair]

After Windows 7 I pretty much stopped using Windows. Went strictly to Linux for all my daily task. Couple things to bicker about with Linux but overall much better than any Windows OS as of recently. Every time I have to use windows on somebody else's device I get so ticked off by all the garbage that's on it. I have a Windows 7 and Windows 10 device that I use strictly for tuning cars. Every time I use Windows 10 I get so mad because of how slow it is on crummy hardware. (It's a cheap tablet) Also the UAC and non-stop updates has never stopped bothering the hell out of me. I always end up shutting them off and it's still pops up, makes me crazy.

[@LtSich]

I have fully switched to linux with the end of Win7... Before that I was only using Linux on server... Now I use it on my PC every day... And finally I have to say, thx Microsoft for doing those crappy OS, now I'm more than happy on Linux :)

[@CrazedPerformanceRepair]

@@LtSich I hear that, so much better. Just takes time adopting.

[@luiscarlosvieira3966]

Lol... I switched to Linux after XP... and ... me too... I get so annoyed when have to deal with a Windows pc... so much crap....

[@CrazedPerformanceRepair]

@@luiscarlosvieira3966 I was actively playing with Linux since XP, just didn't commit fully yet because of game support.

[@luiscarlosvieira3966]

@@CrazedPerformanceRepair lol... me too... just gamming was holding me to XP... started "linuxing" in 98... and moved completely to Linux 2007... gamming was not a thing for me anymore...

[@charliesretrocomputing]

I totally disagree with putting XP in bad, and windows 2000 in excellent. Windows 2000 is average at best, and XP is GOD TIER!

[@pdcmoreira]

Why is red "excelent" and green "the absolute worst"?! That's somehow making me angry!

[@meatybtz]

List is missing NT4.0, as for Win2k, SP3 really was it's sweet spot. As for 11, we are slowly being forced towards that in the G-sphere of influence, and.. no.. it's totally NOT ready for use in business, let alone government systems.

[@jik7864]

Said by people who probably never have tested Windows 11.

[@eggrobo]

@@jik7864 well, windows 10 just works fine.

[@Rattlepiece]

Windows 11 works well for business.

[@radornkeldam]

I'm typing this from a W7 machine... which is, not for much longer now, still my main machine. Not a tech professional, not a typical user either. I never got infected with any ransomware, didn't blindly install every update microsoft offered to me, particularly telemetry related stuff and windows 10 update nagging. this installation is probably running on 8 years or so now, and runs quite OK.

[@hydradragonantivirus]

Still Win7?

[@XeZrunner]

Windows 8 was an unfortunate failure. If we ignore the Metro UI shenanigans they did, the OS was actually super responsive and actually kind of lightweight. It also brought many features that we are all used to now, such as the new Task Manager, File Explorer ribbon, SSD improvements, faster boot times and more. I would say Windows 8 was the lightest version of modern Windows since XP, despite its new and controversial UX.

[@parkman29]

Yes, and until they ended support for it in January, it was my favorite windows because you could put on openshell and a few other programs to make it look and feel like windows 7 without all the bloat.

[@KingKrouch]

The fullscreen start menu sounds great for a HTPC setup (with a controller), a touch screen, or handheld PC (like the Steam Deck) setup, but on an actual desktop setup, it’s a bit clunky.

[@Big-Chungus21]

I wouldnt be surprised that it was more lightweight than maybe even 7 before it. It had very little fancy effects, and a simple GUI. It was fairly beautiful in my opinion, but not very usable. The reason im guessing is that Windows 8 was being developed with the Surface tablets in mind, Microsoft thought they would start some sort of revolution. So they made Windows 8 more lightweight, so that you could have pretty good battery life and performance on a tablet. I wish they continued that idea and released a more lightweight version catered towards tablets, I think the idea of a single version being used for both was wrong.

[@hawk_7000]

8.1 really fixed a lot of the most annoying things about 8.0. If they had just gone a little further, like making that whole full screen metro "start screen" thing an optional feature, I think 8.1 could have been accepted by the masses as a great OS.

[@uroboloss]

I actually used it over Windows 7 and liked it a lot, although I avoided the Metro UI as much as possible.

[@diegoboss05]

Vista best than XP? WTF???

[@zinsy23]

I also have very fond memories of Windows 2000 because it was my very first computer when I was young. I love the nostalgia that it provides and I thought it was a very good system. I just didn't like how it didn't have some built-in games that my Windows 95 system had. I feel like 95 also had a lot more screensaver options, at least on my system when I got that one. I kind of miss 2000 and would probably release intense euphoria if I got to mess around with my first system again. Unfortunately, it is dead now. I think the hard drive is dead, but I'm not entirely certain what happened as I was like 9 when that happened. I just remember installing Flash, my computer became unresponsive, and got stuck in a memory test loop forever (rebooted each time the 24000k or so counted down to 0 rather than saying Windows 2000 was starting).

[@dmrfnk]

I had Win2000 and found myself editing the WM color theme in registry one day. Ended up with a nice boxy black highlights on flat white theme that you couldn't achieve with just the options in the settings ui. I never got the same to work on WinXP or Server 2003.

[@dontknow8699]

I can say that there are people still using windows 7 and companies that are not only still using windows 7 but even ms dos xD. Great tier list!

[@tdata545]

I think I'm the few who liked Vista more than Seven. Again, since Vista was the foundation for Seven. Just like I like 8 over 10.

[@dermond]

XP is good when you are REALLY careful, but it's true that XP broke with tons of virus, and the internet back then was -insecure- so any page can download random malware. But hey, thanks to breaking XP I learned about Linux (Ubuntu) because my uncle install it while he search for Windows 7 starter ISO

[@manudwarf49]

I actually largely agree with you. XP brought little compared to 2000 beyond the "Fisher Price" UI, which never clicked for me. Windows Vista had a very rough launch, but did bring foundational changes that carried across to future versions. Windows 7 was mostly a reskin of Vista, and it was everyone's favourite Windows, which shows you that Vista's problems were mostly due to 3rd party software and drivers.

[@TheRosswise]

XP was extremely weak to viruses. I've had installs that were severely infected before the setup ended. Vista started off really rough but by the time SP2 came out it was basically Windows 7. I managed to snag a copy of Vista Ultimate for $50 back in the day, that turned out to be $50 well spent by the time SP2 came out.

[@klebleonard]

skill issue

[@TheRosswise]

Im in IT, its not a skill issue. I had to setup XP offline and manually install service packs and antivirus before I put it online to get around it. It is extremely likely that it did happen to you two, you just didnt know it.

[@GENERAL9612]

@@TheRosswiseYeah, XP was really prone to viruses compared to later versions of Windows in my experience. Especially with the wild west the internet was back then compared to now. A lot of trial and error to what not to do.

[@chriswheatley3146]

I think the thing I miss the most about Windows 95-XP was the ability to replace the explorer shell. I used to run LiteStep on 98-XP, as well as a bunch of other 3rd party software (web browsers, file explorers, memory managers, etc) to try and not use as much of the Microsoft supplied software as possible. At one point, it almost felt like my Mandrake Linux install that I had on another machine.. lol. Too bad Microsoft eventually put a kebosh to that and all we have are 'interfaces' that sit on top of the windows explorer shell.

[@LtSich]

I fully agree with you on Win2k... This one was the best... Very stable, low ressources usage... I would love to see an OS like this today... Even XFCE on Linux is not so "clean" and "light" but stable and reliable...

[@DryPaperHammerBro]

LXQt?

[@LtSich]

@@DryPaperHammerBro tbh I have never try this one.

[@DryPaperHammerBro]

@@LtSich That’s an even lighter desktop environment for a Linux PC

[@Infisrael]

Windows 10 LTSC is the greatest Windows OS of all time and you can't convince me otherwise (when it comes to current daily usage, windows 7 is more of a nostalgic one for me).

[@dweiss1]

I've been running Linux on desktop since Win 10 came out, and I've not regretted it. I bought a new desktop PC with Win 11 on it and am dual-booting with Linux. I'm really liking Win11 for home use. Something about the user interface is so appealing. There are some features missing vs. Win 10 that I wonder if I'll enjoy it when we switch at work.

[@9852323]

I appreciate that it’s not a super long video. I’ve seen some of these tier list videos drag on for over an hour.

[@mattnordsell9760]

I could definitely agree with you on your decision with 11, I'm also running it and I would occasionally run into bugs as well with it after the updates. One thing that I am not all that big of a fan of in 11 is when doing the storage manager, it makes it not as easy to get rid of stuff as the old style disk cleanup did. I run on my system a dual-boot of Windows 11 and Ubuntu Budgiie 23.04. I'm curious to see how 12 will be when it is launced.

[@ultima199g]

This guy: Windows 95 moved things forward but had tons of compatibility issues, so I'll put it in the Bad tier. Also this guy: Vista broke a lot of things and had tons of compatibility issues, but for some reason, I'll put it in the Good tier. Guess who: Windows 10 belongs in the same tier as Vista. You're right about Win7 though, they let things go when they canceled the Service Pack model so SP1 was end of the road. With 8 coming they didn't want 7 to continue competing, which it did anyways so it ended up a mess like XP did as it dragged on and people avoided Vista.

[@jackkraken3888]

I think you are hating on XP too much. But here's the thing though. During the time XP came out people were still connected to the Internet directly. What i mean is there was no firewall at the cable modem and no firewall on XP. It was bound to be a massive problem since the XP box was directly accessible from the Internet. Once you add a firewall at the cable modem/router level a huge swath of attacks were blocked. You actually probably don't need a firewall at the OS level to prevent outside attacks since the hardware firewall is usually enough.

[@peterharlan]

I can confirm that Windows ME was the absolute worst. I was happy if the computer worked for an hour before getting a BSD.

[@NoveyBoy]

You can't place windows xp lower than vista 😂

[@williamhorton9763]

Not and be taken seriously, anyway...

[@longlost8424]

another great video chris, with some interesting omissions; {winders 3.0 & workgroup 3.12}. in the 1990s, 1 of my first "big" contract jobs was performing a company wide upgrade (7.5k units) from windows 3 to wfwg 3.12. had never done anything that large before, but I dug in, got deep and wrote the update. after a few test runs, I set the upgrade into the corporate login script and it was an amazing success with only 3 systems having an issue which was promptly resolved. this year I'm celebrating my 46th year in high tech having began in 1977 at the age of 15 on my old commodore PET. (somewhere) in my collection I still have my windows .9 [pre 1.0] disk tucked away in my office. 13 years ago, my father and I used to go toe to toe on my non stop criticism over microserf and their constant mistakes along they way. his argument was that even with their flaws they've given me quite a career while my argument was always, yeah but they could have done so much better.... lol. keep your greatness alive man. always love seeing your latest iteration across the industry......

[@JacobMilesmilesje]

The first PC I purchased (for college) came with Windows ME preinstalled. After about a week of BSD and other issues I found Linux (Red Hat) and haven't looked back.

[@juanmanuelfc]

My exact same story! At the time a sys admin friend of mine installed Slackware for me. Used it for years until Ubuntu came along.

[@xnonsuchx]

He’s right…in that people will say he’s wrong about XP. :-) He’s the first “professional” I’ve really heard say XP was just avg and that Vista was slightly better. Many of my friends are long time computer geeks and quite a lot of them still miss XP and very few ever had any kind of disdain for it (except the Mac users). I will definitely say Vista 64-bit was better than XP 64-bit, though. :-) it took me a long time to accept 7 after XP, but I eventually got used to it. I still haven’t gotten used to 10, though 11 makes 10 almost dreamy. And 2000 FTW, definitely! For 10+, could Microsoft AT LEAST give us a real XP Classic Mode UI??? I might hate them less. 3rd party tweaks haven’t been that fulfilling.

[@michamarkowski2204]

I'm in IT for 20+ years and I agree with you. From IT / pro-user point of view XP was much better OS than Vista except for security, but IMO there's no reason to have more secure OS if it's unusable.

[@MR2Di4]

You forgot NT 3.51 & 4.0. NT4 was where the whole NewTechnology ecosystem really found it's footing, it had SIX Service Packs, dedicated server versions and was a business/commercial standard until Win2k came along.

[@kobiblade]

Windows Vista is still one of the best OS Microsoft ever released, right next to Windows 7. Anything after those two has been half baked with no risks taken.

[@thegreathuir]

Windows Vista was ahead of its time, and that was its main problem, because it didn't run on almost any average computer at the time and made it unusable. But thinking about nowadays, if Microsoft continued to update this system, it would definitely be one of the best.

[@alaaxeldin]

Windows 11 would have been Great or Excellent Because MS is trying to rebuild a lot of the UI elements and the base dependencies however they shouldn't forced users to sign in with a microsoft account and those other weird artificial requirements. However, I like that you -kind of- normally distrusted them XD.

[@spacedman4]

Ooh, very interesting Chris. Happy to say that my thoughts are quite similar to yours; my Windows journey has been (and I have a habit of leapfrogging versions): 3.1, 98SE, 2000, 7 and now 10. Will probably skip 11 and go straight to 12 (mainly because my PC isn't 11 ready, and so will need a new one)... Note, I have used XP and 11 for work, am not totally ignorant of those. Fave of all time: 2000 (with SP4).

[@tonigon5767]

Listening to you brings back memories of keeping the installation file of ME in a partition to be able to reinstall every time it crashed. TBH, Win 10 is about the best version of windows to date. I installed Win11 the day it came out. (remember the leaked Beta?) It has survived on two of my machines, but I continue to be underwhelmed. It is as if I hope that it will get better, but it seems to be going in the other direction. I've tested Win10 LTSC, and I may well use that until W11 either improves or dies a lingering death. (We will always have Linux) 😇

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

I do use LTSC on all my win desktops and my workstation (3D/CAD/industrial hardware design). Even latest games are running flawlessly, such as Robocop in unreal engine 5 or Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty. If LTSC wouldn't exist, i would perhaps still use WIndows 8 with start menu replacer. The regular windows versions of 10 and 11 are just full of rubbish bloatware and bing AI bs and i don't want do debloat them all the time after some sneaky updates. And i can't and don't want to switch to a linux desktop, especially for my work, i need complex windows software. I also don't get paid for troubleshooting compatibility problems with my own machines or potentially delaying some time critical projects.

[@jasonmetcalfe4695]

having been in IT support since the 98 second era, I actually agree with your list, I never used 8 or 8.1 or had to deal with it though, 11 is average, I don't use it personally but its on my wifes laptop ME should really have just been a service pack for 98 2nd, its stable under certain conditions, and has some cool stuff in it as for XP I hated it until service pack 3, then it became fully usable, and I used it until 7 came along - definitely only the professional version, home version had way more issues

[@ilikepizza1275]

As someone born in the mid 2000s, 7 was the first Windows version I ever used and it was good, but I was younger then and didn't really know nor remember that much. Windows 10 is the OS I would say I've grown up on. My knowledge and interest in technology and computers started to grow after 10 released and it'll probably be the one I look back on most fondly despite what people think about it. I don't mind 11, my only real gripe is the start menu since I grew up on 10, and that's the style of start menu I'm the most familiar with.

[@fexploder3281]

I have had an experience that is pretty similar to yours actually. I have used Windows 7 since I was a 6 year old child and I still have a desire to use it today. On the other hand, I have also used Windows 10 since it was about just over a year old 8 years ago but I don't exactly feel that it is ideal to use due to the added telemetry and bloat. I have also tried Windows 11 when it was leaked in 2021 too and used it for about a year and a half before downgrading to Windows 10 again because of how certain themes did not work on it and how it is getting worse after each update. So to conclude this, although Windows 7 is no longer supported, it is still to this day the ideal os in my opinion whether you want to admit it or not and it is the last ideal os Microsoft has released.

[@Bananeisafree]

It's a very intersting video with an interesting point of vue. I switched from Mac to Windows around the XP / Vista period, mainly because of gaming, but also because of apple pissing me off quite a bit. And as such, putting XP on a low tier and Vista so high is really surprising to me. But it does make sense from the perspective of an IT oriented point of vue. Thank you for that video, it was very instructive !

[@michamarkowski2204]

I'm in IT for 20 yrs and it doesn't make sense for me. What's the purpose of having more secure OS when it's unusable?

[@Bananeisafree]

@@michamarkowski2204 I don't know i don't work in IT. Ok joke aside i guess what is was thinking when I wrote this was, while tiresome to deal with crappy design, it might be less stressful than having to deal won't constant potential security breaches. Again, not an IT guy, I was mainly acknowledging the fact that different point of vue were possible...

[@Jenachy]

Vista remains to this day the one OS I have never had a single issue with, and I had it on two PCs in total. Ran smooth as silk, never experienced any driver issues, I was very fortunate.

[@graycode66]

linux user tier listing windows 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Marc.Google]

Accurate listings, Chris. I’m on 11 myself when I do use Windows and I find it’s good aside from the restrictive installation process, default spying and the recent Recall fiasco that’s currently playing out.

[@tydewalt5425]

I totally agree with you about Vista. I used Vista and loved it. I hated XP. Virus Magnet. Super easy to bypass most microsoft security processes.

[@lmnts556]

Xp > Vista.

[@Raivo_K]

Same here with Vista. Tho my experience was better than most because i was running high end hardware for the time. Most people still used singe core CPU's and 256-512MB RAM with a terrible Intel iGPU and a slow HDD. I was running dual core Athlon X2 and 2GB of RAM with 7900GTX and WD Raptor HDD. Good times. Also i liked the Vista UI way better than XP tho XP was my first personal PC MS OS tho i had used 98 on some places earlier on public places or friends house.

[@michamarkowski2204]

@@Raivo_K I've been building/fixing PCs for a living between XP SP2b and 7 SP1. When Vista launched, most PCs had 1 or 2 GBs RAM. 512 MB was a rarity. Both Athlon X2 and Intel Dual Core were already established on the market. You could blame hardware leftovers for the bad launch of Vista, but the truth is even medium and high-end (for that time) specs often weren't enough. After a year, when the P35 Chipset was a standard, most PCs were sold with 2-4 GBs RAM and 8600/8500GT, Vista should run smoothly, but didn't. It was still a huge resource hog (both CPU and RAM).

[@blabbilizer]

as someone who grew up with vista, i had amazing memories with vista

[@juanmanuelfc]

My experience with Windows Me was so bad I ended up switching to Linux. Never looked back. Suffice to say that the first time I ever switched the notebook on I got a blue screen of death. Over the coming weeks it must have crashed at least 2 or 3 times a day, every day. I never felt so cheated out of my hard earned money.

[@MONSTERAGAR]

My tier list: Windows 7 GOAT S-Tier 2000 and XP in A-Tier 98 SE, Vista and 10 in B-Tier 3.x, 95, NT 4.0, 8.1 and 11 in C-Tier NT 3.x, 98 FE and 8.0 in D-Tier 1.x and 2.x in E-Tier Me in F-Tier

[@solemnmagus]

Glad to see Win 2000 up there.

[@WiseWorker908]

Glad to see Win2K win.

[@jimtolar9517]

Totally agree with you on Windows 2K. Excellent history summary. New information on older Window version that either were not known, or forgotten about. Thanks Chris.

[@seenukarthi]

Windows 2000 Pro was still the best.

[@pauloicto8252]

I'm watching this on W7 . . . - still love it.

[@dylanlahman5967]

The "average" tier should really be titled "eh", and "good" should be titled "fine"

[@ПростойЧеловек-к8г]

Actually i would say Windows 8.1 with classic shell installed was the best OS what Microsoft ever made because the system requirements after 4 years were the same as windows 7 so it runs even faster than windows 7 and windows 10 on average computer, it was bringing new cool features like UEFI support, NVME support, Secure Boot support, USB 3.0 support, 3D printing support, new and fresh task manager and other cool stuffs... It was like a mix of windows 7 style and design and windows 10 version 1507 functionality. I would say windows 8.1 which designed to run on tablets and ultrabooks has hidden potential of performance and customization, let's be honest it's underrated a lot of people was just to scared of start menu screen and right sidebar which is very easy to hide by installing classic shell, also you can install uxStyle theme patcher and aero glass and make it look exactly like windows 7 and perform faster, also to get extra performance you just need to run services.msc and disable some unaccessary services and you can also take permision over windows store and onedrive and delete them and that's all you have a very clean and debloated and nice looking OS.

[@adjusted-bunny]

I had been using Windows 7 until 2019. It was so slow at the end. Then I switched to Linux and never looked back.

[@Brigand17]

How much of a gamer are you? 🤔

[@adjusted-bunny]

@@Brigand17 I am not a gamer.

[@Brigand17]

@@adjusted-bunny Hmm, I suspected that. Linux is unfortunately sometimes incorrectly detected as some type of cheat hence why Linux users some times get banned from games :-(

[@ariqahmer]

Great! I'm looking forward to a Linux tier of the ones you have used

[@blacktick6171]

7>xp>2000>vista>10>8(.1)>11

[@RamArt9091]

Windows 7 was, for me, the best version of Windows.

[@breadmoth6443]

You skipped Windows NT 4 Workstation. I would put that in the Good category, and 2000 Pro in the excellent as well. I had great experience with 2000 Pro , and that was the version of Windows I switched to fully after 98se. The improvement of 2000 Pro over NT 4 workstation was obvious , USB support , better support for NTFS volumes greater than 8GB and you could boot off of NTFS completely. It was perfect. When XP came out , I really did not see any real improvement, but more of a slightly decrease when XP came out, because not only the dumb look they tried to push , but also started the whole phoning home to microsoft to verify your copy. I never upgraded to XP, it was meh at best.

[@eliotcole]

I assumed he didn't measure NT and server versions because they might technically be considered a different trench of OS' ...

[@breadmoth6443]

@@eliotcole then why mention xp and pro ? those are essentially Windows NT , and the versions after.

[@eliotcole]

@@breadmoth6443 my name is not Chris Titus, mate ...

[@breadmoth6443]

@@eliotcole k was just making a point but heyho i guess the order of the day is snarky remarks.

[@timothygibney159]

XP was best for laptops and mobile devices which were just coming out. Power management finally caught up with the XP kernel. For desktops Win2k was ok ... provided you used a good software firewall which it lacked.

[@VincyBlueX]

Vista on top of Xp should be illegal in 50 states

[@KajuTheRudeMonke]

cope

[@BladePaladin]

Nice to see you speak truth about XP. No amount of rose tint can make me forget about the absolutely obnoxious Messenger Service pop-up spam.

[@StaceyAyodele]

I used 98, XP, 8/8.1, and 10. After Microsoft released Windows 11 though, (I had experience with Linux by this point) I dived headlong into Linux (Xubuntu 22.04.2 LTS to be exact) and applied a 1990s theme and a background. I can game and do everything I need to. I will NEVER leave Linux. Windows is dead to me and I'm never touching it again.

[@jon4715]

Windows 8.1 was excellent, especially after 8.

[@JOHNWICK-5903.5]

Except UWP everything about 8.1 was great. It was stable, ran fine on low-end hardware and didn’t nagged like 10 & 11 does.

[@riboiman4005]

I run a custom version of 8.1 called Sasnet on my retro gaming PC. Runs great!

[@danlscan]

I can't argue with anything you said. I've had love/hate feelings for Microsoft from the beginning. I use windows 10 for a couple of things about once a month but have used linux for everything else for about 15 years. I liked win 7 but knew I had to reinstall about once a year. I was a win 7 holdout because I don't use windows often. I used your tool with win 10 and now find it inoffensive. Thank for helping me with my computers. BTW I realized that my sub was deleted and I don't think it was my doing. Subscribing again now.

[@NTyrzi]

98 was my family's 1st computer and it was good for habbo hotel. I don't remember much of it other than that. XP for me only holds nostalgic value, especially with the olive theme. But really that's about it. I remember it fondly but today it's just a toy that I may open as a virtual machine. Nostalgia aside, it's "average" for me. I don't miss it really. Vista was pretty exciting to me and probably has my favorite aesthetic. I like the glass look, the shiny buttons, the blur in windows, and the underwater-y godray look with shiny wavy lines on blue-green-yellow colors, and it was pretty cool to see 1 of the screensaver have transparent bubbles bouncing around (not very impressive today but I like bubbles and having transparent stuff was amazing). I didn't have any issues with it other than being a bit slow (mostly because I wasn't too tech savvy yet when it came down to specs and money) but turning off windows effects sped it up pretty nicely. Widgets I just threw out of the way. It's "Good" for me. I do miss the feeling it gave me but not the OS. Win 7 was a little better than vista, which made it feel less amazing. It gave me a feeling of "ok so now I'm using the more accepted version of Windows" mostly. It ran better, but I bet it was mostly due to being on a newer laptop. It became the baseline in my head what Windows OS is supposed to be. I'm actually going to put win8.1 in a good or potentially even great category. I didn't have the "UGH what is this crap" mindset on the get-go and gave it a fair chance when it still was just 8, so in 1-2 days or so when I got used to it, it was quite nice, and when 8.1 update came it was even better. I was told later that the start menu was made like so for tablet reasons but I didn't really internalize that information fully until very late. It was just an odd different start menu which I accepted. I knew that there was classic shell as an option if I didn't like the start menu but I didn't mind. Windows 10 was the 1st time I had a PC instead of a laptop which made it pretty special, especially since I built it myself. Going back to the Windows 7 UI with a hint of 8.1 was pretty neat. After 10 years of using it, the only issue I was bummed about was that since I've always been a Bluetooth headphone, the 1803 update fucked up the user experience that you could only fix by changing the "disableabsolutevolume" registry value. I got used to the new ways later but how everything started with that Bluetooth feature was buggy and controlled the audio in ways that just did not work or changed the volume for you to break your eardrums. No issues anymore but changing the volume for your headphones and computer separately had its use (I use Linux now mostly and I can have the best of both worlds and then some). This version has the most complaints I've heard from my friends. Haven't tried 11 a whole lot. I really don't prefer any version over the other when it comes down to versions between XP to 10 as long they are up to the standards of today with security and compatibility, since I don't think there have been any necessary user features since even before XP maybe. Debloated windows 10 would probably be my pick.

[@Dave-PL]

I don't agree with Windows XP position. I think it was a great operating system in that Era. Ofc, first edition has no security at all, same like 95/98, but SP1 and next patches introduces "User roles" like it was in NT systems. So you were able to limit user, even on Home Edition, and on Pro you were able to join the system to Active Directory which was great. I know from that era, that many people start to complain that apps was limited, web browsing was limited but at the end it was a solid, fast, easy to use and secure OS after turn on the limitations 😅 Regarding Windows Vista, for me as an IT back then it was a nightmare. I had to do a lot of downgrades to XP Pro because we had specialized applications which uses old dll. After that Windows 7 brought better old app support which started to work properly.

[@robbybankston4238]

I started about the same timeframe as you (around the Win 3.11 / Win95 era) and my general experience has been every other release has been great. I don't know if that means Microsoft doesn't give their engineers enough time to develop properly or whether it takes a full release to get enough user feedback. I rocked Win2K for many years and then Win7 as preferred versions but I must say that Win10 Pro with WSL is a nice touch though you need to debloat Win10. The jury is still out on 11

[@diskeed]

You completely overlooked Windows NT which was rock solid, my first truly stable version of Windows. Used it for years, but some programs wouldn't run so installed 2000 which was also excellent. Anyway, am surprised you skipped NT.

[@bobgrimes8618]

What happened to NT 4.0?

[@dmrfnk]

Also Windows Server 2003. I didn't like XP when it launched and started using this on the desktop. Not all games agreed to install on it, probably just checking whether os name string contains 2000 or XP and throwing in the towel if not 😅

[@Murdohk]

I agree 100%. I was going to say something about XP, but you're totally right.... I have some good memories with XP, and still use it for a Netbook that is used only to manage my house security camera, but yeah, it really deserves to be in "Average"

[@stevegonzo9316]

When Win2k came out, I was managing a project upgrading all the PCs in the estate from NT to 2000. We've built the images to install, tested all the software in our domain and test users were happy with it. All of a sudden company taken over and parent company went with XP. All the efforts down the drain. I was furious and for that I never used XP at home.

[@MarcinKralka]

The things I disagree with: * Windows ME: While you can't argue it was the absolute worst OS Microsoft publicly released, I don't remember it being as bad as you say. I think it may depend on hardware it run on though. * Windows 2000: I am just going to nitpick something you said: ReactOS is not designed to be replacement for Windows 2000 but it's "based" on XP/Server 2003 as for core and it's designed to run more modern applications as well (aka forward compatibility). * Windows XP: I agree that it added some bloat and was pretty bad on launch, but was an excellent beast at its end of life. * Windows 8/8.1: While Metro is a piece of crap, you could easily use OS the same way you used Windows 7 using custom start menu, and in my eyes it run better than Windows 7 ever did. I liked the desktop aesthetics of it as well. * Windows 10: I definitely disagree that it was great at launch. It was inconsistent mess, and its settings application was horrible, and it only get better later. I would definitely put it aside Windows 7.

[@lboston4660]

Does anybody know what the last telemetry-free version of Windows 7 was, and/or how to find it? I would like to keep an ISO of it for posterity and good luck

[@fexploder3281]

I don't know of any but if you really have to you could get an iso that does not have updates.

[@R0d_1984]

M$ will install the telemetry if it updates...