He also wrote the USA's most-saved article of 2021, according to Pocket.Ĭhris was a PCWorld columnist for two years. Beyond the web, his work has appeared in the print edition of The New York Times (September 9, 2019) and in PCWorld's print magazines, specifically in the August 2013 and July 2013 editions, where his story was on the cover. With over a decade of writing experience in the field of technology, Chris has written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Reader's Digest, IDG's PCWorld, Digital Trends, and MakeUseOf. Chris has personally written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times-and that's just here at How-To Geek. It's the future, but your existing PCs will keep running fine with Windows 10 until late 2025.īut, if you're wondering whether you need the Professional version of Windows 11, you probably don't.Ĭhris Hoffman is the former Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. If you're buying a new computer, it will come with Windows 11 and that's fine.
But we like some of the changes in Windows 11 (like File Explorer tabs and improved Dark Mode!), and it will provide the best experience on new PC hardware. It's not absolutely essential you upgrade immediately, and Windows 10 is also still fine. So that's our professional opinion as Windows geeks: Windows 11 is fine. Related: How to Downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 However, you'll have to perform a full reinstall of Windows 10, so you'll have to reinstall all your applications and set everything up from scratch afterward. This tool should work, but we always recommend having a backup of your important data anyway, just in case anything goes wrong.Īfter the first 10 days, you can still downgrade a PC running Windows 11 back to Windows 10. Microsoft will continue supporting Windows 10 until October 2025, so if you're happy with your current workflow, there's no need to upgrade. The upgrade is free, so give it a try-you can always uninstall Windows 11 and roll back to Windows 10 if you aren't happy. You'll probably see it advertised in Windows Update on Windows 10. So if you're interested in Windows 11 on an older PC, it's worth an upgrade.
Microsoft doesn't officially support Windows 11 on "unsupported PCs," and you may experience bugs, or your operating system may break as Microsoft releases future updates. There are ways you can upgrade an unsupported PC to Windows 11, but you have to jump through some hoops, and we recommend against it. Windows 11 has pretty strict hardware requirements. However, most existing Windows 10 PCs can't easily upgrade. If you have a PC running Windows 10 that can run Windows 11, you can upgrade for free. Windows 11 is worth it because it's free. We don't think you should spend any money to upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft has not announced when it will end support for Windows 11, while Microsoft will only support Windows 10 until October 2025. It has long-awaited features like tabs in File Explorer. The operating system is solid, stable, fast, and has better support for the latest hardware. This isn't another Windows release to skip like Windows 8, Windows Vista, or Windows Me.
This is a solid release of Windows, and it's up there with Windows 10 and Windows 7. We think Windows 11 is a good operating system. So is Windows 11 any good, and is the upgrade worth it? Is Windows 11 Good? Unlike the big Windows 10 upgrade offer that felt impossible to avoid, Microsoft has been much more selective about which PCs get Windows 11 this time around. Microsoft released Windows 11 back in October 2021. How to Downgrade From Windows 11 to Windows 10.How to Check if Windows 11 Supports Your PC.Why We Recommend Against Upgrading Unsupported PCs.Windows 11 Performance: Is It Faster Than Windows 10?.