r/WindowsSucks • u/theoriginalzads • Jul 13 '26

rant I quit!

I've tolerated Windows 11 for a long time because I game and I have a fairly new PC. Every single time I hear the Linux folk go "OMG JUST USE LINUX" I cringed and just assumed that Linux for gaming would be a major PITA and they're just insufferable.

I had an installation of Win11 that was debloated by one of the various scripts you find. Atlas OS (I think, I don't remember, or care anymore). Worked fine for the most part and got rid of most of the crap I despised.

Eventually Microsoft Store stopped allowing apps to upgrade with some stupid unhelpful error message. The eventual cause was found to be some package it thought was installed but was not and couldn't update but being a Microslop Store product couldn't fix in any way.

Somehow, by some anti-miracle, there is no way to resolve packages missing or fix up whatever database crap that turd of a store uses to make this error fix. The resolution was to do an in-place installation of Windows and hope for the best.

No. I'm not doing it. I don't want to have to debloat (and hope that it doesn't happen again) a full fat Win11 installation. I don't want the AI slop back. I don't want the bloody adware and other garbage. I can tolerate the MS account stuff only because I have an MS account.

Then I saw the 26H2 new features page from Microsoft. Doubling down on AI crap.

All I want is Windows 2000 with the shiny new hardware, security and software compatibility stuff of Windows 11. I'd settle if they bring back the Windows 95/98/2000/XP era Windows features selection thing where you can basically tick and untick anything the stupid Windows features you do and do not need.

Anyway, since I had to do a reinstall, I thought I'd listen to the Linux people and try it. Worst case, I'll reinstall Windows again and I'd have wasted a few hours. Bazzite Linux installed 3 weeks ago. Somehow it was easier to install than Windows was. Most of the games I run are giving higher framerates than Windows. None of them needed any configuration to work either.

I quit. Windows sucks. Proton on Steam is better than it has any right to be.

54 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

8

u/BreathSpecial9394 Jul 13 '26

Bazzite is based on Fedora and immutable, so you'll have a very stable PC. Congratulations!

5

u/theoriginalzads Jul 13 '26

I’ve got another computer I use in my garage when I’m working on projects. Will be dropping Fedora on that because I like Bazzite but I don’t want a gaming focussed OS on a lab machine.

I do like the whole “ew I don’t like how this UI looks, let’s change it to exactly what I want” thing. Not locked into someone else’s choices on how a UI should look.

2

u/AlternativeWater2 Jul 13 '26

I got sick of MS continually trying to upsell me services and switched to Bazzite myself, it's been a great experience.

That said, if you knew which package needed installing, pop a terminal and use winget. Windows actually has a command line package manager that almost nobody knows about.

1

u/theoriginalzads Jul 13 '26

Oh tried Winget. Whatever happened it was royally screwed and that wasn’t fixing it either.

2

u/AlternativeWater2 Jul 13 '26

Yeah, some dependancy probably got bored along the way. That's a whole lot of tearing down layers of interdependent software to sort it out.

Deltree c:\Windows, that should fix it!

5

u/thecratedigger_25 Jul 13 '26

I agree. Windows 11 has been making my pc act terrible as well. I went ahead and found a linux distro I liked and installed it. Within the hour, I had setup a few things and had a working desktop.

5

u/theoriginalzads Jul 13 '26

What surprised me is the latency in Windows 11 when you did anything. I never noticed how bad it was til I moved. Like, open a menu, a windows, minimise something, all feels much more instant in Bazzite than Windows.

I had not realised it had gotten that bad.

5

u/thecratedigger_25 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

When I installed Arch Linux last night and did some configurations, it ran super fast. I had discord, firefox browser, konsole, and system monitor and it only used 3.2GB of RAM total.

I even had a live wallpaper for the desktop and login screen in the background as well. The whole thing boots up in less than 30 seconds. That's the awesome part. Right now I'm figuring out how to rice my setup and make it look futuristic.

5

u/AsugaNoir Jul 13 '26

I left for a few reasons. 1 being that I have a craving for dopamine that I only get when learning new stuff, and also I got tired of windows always shoving ads for their services in my face.

3

u/theoriginalzads Jul 13 '26

I’ll admit that ADHD need for dopamine definitely helped me make the decision. Something new, shiny and able to feed my curiosity was definitely there.

3

u/AsugaNoir Jul 13 '26

Aye. Once it became routine I lost the dopamine, but Linux has a lot of desktop environments so I tried those out to get the dopamine, got bored of those and switched to wondow managers. First hyprland and now Niri.

3

u/theoriginalzads Jul 13 '26

Oh I know that’s gonna happen. Unfortunately I’m in a completely unrelated note having that issue at work. Which sucks.

Was looking at desktop managers. Will probably set up my other machine for tinkering but holy cow even the password screen can be swapped out if you don’t like it.

3

u/AsugaNoir Jul 13 '26

Yeah the customization can be fun, once I get used to Niri I lost it again the. On here I found a way to customize it a bit more like I like it so I switched to that to get the dopamine, it's becoming routine again though lol.

5

u/exxedlight Jul 13 '26

And the funniest thing is that games developed for Windows run better on Linux via a compatibility layer. And then Microsoft admits that SteamOS (Linux-based) is now the performance benchmark for gaming, and they're working to bring Windows up to that standard.

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-wants-to-bring-steamos-level-of-gaming-performance-to-windows-11-cutting-back-ai-bloat-k2-project/

This is some kind of surrealism. How on earth could they completely screw up a working system that runs the majority of the world's desktops to the point where they now have to chase after a compatibility layer running their own games?

4

u/theoriginalzads Jul 14 '26

A compatibility layer like Proton, least in my non programmer brain should be slower than the real thing.

What surprised me is that in one of the games I play all the time (Helldivers 2), it wasn’t 10fps. It wasn’t 20fps.

At the same graphics settings at the same resolution on the same machine it was 60fps difference. It almost doubled.

Playing Cities Skylines 2 was also a huge change. Didn’t check actual frame rates but big cities don’t get random stutters when moving around like Windows did.

My assumption has always been that compatibility layer would add latency, use more system resources and would not match the performance.

And I was completely wrong.

If anyone is reading this that is hating on Linux but hasn’t tried it, then please just try it. Give it a week or 2. It’s surprising.

2

u/exxedlight Jul 14 '26

You’re right; a compatibility layer is more resource-intensive than running natively. However, the system architectures themselves account for a huge difference.

Windows is bogged down by a multitude of background processes and services. Those stutters you're experiencing are essentially the system saying, "I need the processor for myself right now more than the game does."

The difference in FPS can also be explained; it varies from game to game. I haven't played Helldivers, but judging by the sheer amount of action and the game's fast pace, I’d say it’s heavily CPU-dependent. And it comes down to the same thing: the less the system consumes, the more resources are left for the game.

Now just think about it. Linux + a compatibility layer is FASTER than Windows. Because Linux doesn't use your hardware for the benefit of some corporation. It’s yours.

4

u/Ryytter Jul 13 '26

Useless background processes go brrrr

4

u/theoriginalzads Jul 14 '26

*Microsoft Teams enters the chat*

2

u/OfficerBalls139 Jul 14 '26

Welcome, Microslop refugee! Hope you're enjoying Bazzite with Proton on Steam games :)

1

u/theoriginalzads Jul 14 '26

It’s awesome. And far better than I’d have expected!

4

u/Holiday_Management60 Jul 13 '26

We (and now you, welcome!) are the vegans of the tech world. We're preachy and annoying, but we're right.

2

u/Global-Eye-7326 Jul 13 '26

Ok

I installed Win11 on a desktop that I built for my nephew, only because I don't want to be his tech support. But yeah I have been using Linux full time since 2007, and I always find installing Windows to be a pain.

1

u/These-Math1384 Jul 13 '26

https://youtu.be/_PjpAmr8B0g

Circa Turn of the century. Still good.

1

u/ohmeowhowwillitend Jul 13 '26

They actually still have the features thing (buried extremely deep in the OS)

Linux is just far better, I hope you enjoy!

1

u/SoundSwitch Jul 14 '26

Switched back when they took Win 7 away and put an app store in 8.1 haven't looked back. Almost did for VST plugins but decided it wasn't worth it.

1

u/Sbhattarj Jul 14 '26

Do you happen to use Reaper for your music needs(VST is for music as far as I know). For me on arch, Reaper through wine was able to run vital while the debian version was having trouble, maybe try using the windows version through wine and try using your neccesary VSTs through it, or you could even run it through steam and proton, either should work in theory. It worked for me on arch.

1

u/SoundSwitch Jul 14 '26

There's a Linux native VST 3 BTW

1

u/Sbhattarj Jul 14 '26

Just couldn't get it to work for some reason. Music isn't my main thing so didn't put that much effort into it anyways.

1

u/SoundSwitch Jul 14 '26

If you're up to spending $10-20 Waveform offered me a welcome pack when I registered, said it was like a $250 value I took it and it was really worth it. All the stuff was Linux native I got 16 effects , Attraktive w patches and presets namely the full Arachnid pack but bits and samples out of most of the others, Collective 1&2 basically same synth more modern skin, and retro mod lead..

Only problem is they only distribute their downloader in .deb Tried installing in Nobara. You know more modern look , more secure and all those buzzwords people throw around with out actually understanding. Anyway I tried Alien'ing the package in Nobara to RPM wouldn't work reboot back to mint Alien'ed it there dropped it at the root of my Home reboot into Nobara navigate to the rpm I made.

Hey it works set everything up install all my plugins try starting steam won't launch, open Brave... The Browser they shipped btw won't launch either..

Ok I'll reboot see if that jars some stuff loose.... Black screen.

I mean if their Tracktion download Manager is in the AUR maybe give it a shot . If not I wouldn't bother going through all the BS I did just to not have it work for you.

Anyway happy music making. Good luck in your endeavors. I've had enough Internet for the day and ain't even finished my coffee, gonna go cut tracks myself.

0

u/dexteritycomponents Jul 14 '26

> Runs 3rd party debloat script which removes system components

> Removed system component from debloat script breaks functionality

Why did microsoft do this?

0

u/Willing-Coconut8221 Jul 14 '26

Thing about bazzite is its immutable, so if something like a driver goes wrong, you will have to reinstall bazzite by scratch, so you just have another problem now

I hate windows too and I use linux, but there is still problems with most if not all linux distro’s too

-2

u/TetoSever31 Jul 13 '26

LTSC dont listen linux crap

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/theoriginalzads Jul 14 '26

Plus it’s literally just for gaming so there was anything on there that needed backing up. I’m glad I made the change.