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The 6 Worst Versions of Windows, Ranked
How To Geek ^ | Apr 5, 2021 | Benj Edwards

Posted on 04/05/2021 1:35:41 PM PDT by upchuck

After over three decades of Microsoft Windows success, there have been some clear failures along the way. With that in mind, we’ve picked the six worst versions of Windows. All of these made us want to stick to older, better versions of Windows, or use alternatives like Macs or Linux instead.

The Ranking Criteria Most of us know a bad version of Windows when we see it. Maybe we’ve experienced personal pain in wrestling with its bugs, or lost time reinstalling it over and over again, or heard stories about how often it’s crashed.

In developing this list, we considered the following metrics: How much people hated each version (appearances on other worst-of lists), how poorly it sold, how slowly it was adopted, how bad its reviews were, the length of its lifespan on the market, and our own personal experiences with the software. For fun, we also googled “Windows [x] Sucks,” and tallied up the results.

Honestly, there’s no hard science to this, so you might not agree with our exact ranking, but we can confidently predict this: If you ran at least one of these versions of Windows, you wanted to upgrade.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Education
KEYWORDS: microsoft; windows
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To: Openurmind

Thanks for the help. I got cinnamon 20 installed and the only thing is that it defaults to windows if I don’t hit the escape key on boot up. I can live with that.


141 posted on 04/06/2021 9:36:12 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,)
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To: upchuck

142 posted on 04/06/2021 9:38:30 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (The avg 911 response time is 23 mins; the response time of a .357 is 1400 ft/sec)
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To: Openurmind

Rufus did it


143 posted on 04/06/2021 9:38:57 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,)
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To: Pollard

I was running Cinnamon Mint on a 10 year old computer and it was ten times as fast as Windows. But the hinges were about to break and something was hitting the cooling fan so I just migrated over to a 4 year old computer.


144 posted on 04/06/2021 9:55:59 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,)
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To: COBOL2Java

Love the graphic. The vista guy should have one of those queer flags.


145 posted on 04/06/2021 11:35:40 AM PDT by upchuck (Corporations don’t pay taxes. They collect them. From us. ~ h/t Little Ray)
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To: Bikkuri

Just the opposite, I used it daily for work, as I was a network engineer for a cable internet company at the time.

Just the one lucky person, I guess.


146 posted on 04/06/2021 11:39:00 AM PDT by ro_dreaming ("XX = female; XY = male. Who's the science deniers now?" - Me)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Fantastic! :)

Please let me know if you run across any issues with the 20 so I am aware of these? I am having good luck with it so far, been several months now since installing it. The Celluloid video player has a few hang ups now and then, sometimes have to start the player twice to make it play a movie. But that is not the Linux it’s self. :)


147 posted on 04/06/2021 11:56:49 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind

Rufus was the only one I could get to successfully create a Persistent Live USB recently. Tried a couple of Linux solutions, Tried UUI and unetbootin for windows and none worked. Create a folder on the desktop, restart and the folder was gone. Even tried a few different Distros to no avail. Rufus came through.


148 posted on 04/06/2021 12:40:32 PM PDT by Pollard (Bunch of curmudgeons)
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To: Pollard

I saw that the new Rufus will do that but haven’t tried it yet. good to know it does work... Thank you!

I have been making portable Linux OS sticks for about two years now. Sent a few out to other freepers. But these “think” they are the internal primary drive. I use Gparted to create the first volume as MBR and give it a mounting point.Then just do a full install of linux to it as if it was the internal primary drive.

Pretty cool, a portable PC with storage on a stick that just borrows the hardware of any machine you plug it into as long as it boots from the USB first. Even works on a MAC. Storage capacity depends on the size of the stick of course, but I use a 64 gig minimum. 128 gig preferred. That is plenty for a portable if you keep the files cleaned up or transferred. :)


149 posted on 04/06/2021 1:44:08 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Pollard
I just can't live without KDE :P Mate/Cinnamon.. just couldn't adapt >.< So far, so good with Kubuntu. I also remember when it was buggy as heck (never did have any issues with Mint... until they deserted us).
150 posted on 04/06/2021 7:16:06 PM PDT by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: Openurmind

I am a KDE guy. KDE give full control of the DE. Cinnamon (and Mate) are ok, but give no leeway.


151 posted on 04/06/2021 7:17:13 PM PDT by Bikkuri (If you're conservative, you're an "extremist." If you're liberal, you're an "activist.")
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To: Bikkuri

I get it... A lot of folks were upset about losing the KDE.


152 posted on 04/07/2021 4:55:43 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind
" Those who are between a rock and a hard place with having nothing as their only other option"

And thank God for options, and Linux has much potential in the desktop area, and I would even like to create a custom Linux distro that others could use, though again for me there is no need to engage in the extensive time and exploration that it would take to get my own rig close to the functionality and customization that I employ. But I remain interested and watchful of development and thank you for your help.

153 posted on 04/07/2021 5:05:39 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save + be baptized + follow Him!)
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To: upchuck

Windows has no defined message id’s and descriptions located in a file that should be displayed when an OS error is encountered.

Instead some lame programmer issues their own messages on the fly. I’ve seen windows messages like, “You can’t do that”, or the “unexpected error” (as opposed to the expected error).

When you mistyped your password signing on to W10, it says something like “You can’t sign on now, Go to your Windows live account and...” If I can’t sign on how can you go to your account? How about “Invalid userid or password”.


154 posted on 04/07/2021 5:09:55 AM PDT by CodeJockey (Dum Spiro, Pugno)
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To: daniel1212

I realize your extra time is limited but I would love to see you do that! I would be all in to help as much as possible!

But it is I who need to thank you... For having an open mind and going out of your way to give linux a try. It really does mean a lot. Thank you for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

And for sharing your very detailed knowledge, honest assessments, and experience as a superuser with others here and myself. You are in a unique class of your own in that right which deserves the upmost of respect. :)


155 posted on 04/07/2021 5:27:29 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: CodeJockey

Lol, that always bothered me too. But I think the worst for me is installing a Program/App that is made for windows yet it doesn’t work after installing it. Windows errors will not always tell you why. You have to go on a three day internet search investigation to find others who had the same issue and try six different cures until you “might” get it working.

I am now spoiled with Linux checking my system for any extra dependencies that are needed for an app before downloading and installing it, then going and also fetching those dependencies along with the app as one install procedure. It at least gives you a detailed error why and where the problem is if a program doesn’t work for some reason. That alone is HUGE.


156 posted on 04/07/2021 5:42:30 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Openurmind
"I realize your extra time is limited but I would love to see you do that! I would be all in to help as much as possible! But it is I who need to thank you... For having an open mind and going out of your way to give linux a try. It really does mean a lot. Thank you for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And for sharing your very detailed knowledge, honest assessments, and experience as a superuser with others here and myself. You are in a unique class of your own in that right which deserves the upmost of respect. :)"

Well, thanks be to God for anything good, though I do not think I am much of a "super" anything though we are all unique in some ways, and others chastise me for running 5 or 6 browsers concurrently with over 500 different colored tabs open and visible (though over 200 only use about 1.5'' of screen), and think I am some super nut, but it works best for me, thank God. Yet that part would be possible in Linux, and while there are other issues we have somewhat discussed, yes, I have an open mind to that class of OS if I ever needed it. Hope the issue about legal multimedia codecs is resolved, and thanks again for a heart to help.

157 posted on 04/08/2021 5:26:15 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save + be baptized + follow Him!)
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To: upchuck

I’ve been running linux at home for so long, I haven’t felt most of the pain that folks stuck with microsoft have experienced. One thing that I did think was funny though, is that one of the thing I have always loved about Linux is its stabilty. I reboot when I upgrade my kernel, and I do that maybe twice a year. I recall chatting right here on FR with folks claiming that their windows systems were every bit as stable as what I was describing.

Then it came out that there was a 56-day bug in MS-Windows, where any computer that had been up for that long would freeze after 56 days, no matter what. I’m thinking it was during the XP era, but I’m not positive. Anyway, this bug had apparently been around for several years, so every single person claiming more than 56 days of uptime under MS-Windows was a flat-out liar.


158 posted on 04/08/2021 7:43:28 PM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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