Hi Kari, ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kari Eveli" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "XyList" <xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2025 5:05:18 AM Subject: My Windows 11 tribulations or how I spent my summer Hi all, I have used an HP Z400 workstation for more than a decade. I might still be using it without MS making the upgrade decision for me. I am not buying the rationale of very strict hardware compatibility for Windows 11 but what can one do? I found this commercial resource which contains quite a lot of useful information for someone like me, and I acted upon it. https://pcserverandparts.com/blog/prepare-for-the-end-of-windows-10-with-these-windows-11-compatible-workstations/?srsltid=AfmBOoq06HTn00IWQ72scUJjTUJJXqhdnYV7g1nHBhoaHZj6EuhLaFy4 I bought a second-hand Lenovo ThinkStation P520 (Windows 11 Pro for Workstations, 32 GB memory, Xeon processor, 1 TB M.2 SSD as main drive plus 3 other disk drives and a DVD drive, NVIDIA Quadro P620 with 3 HP ZDisplays). I have spent the whole summer installing and configuring this rig from scratch. I try to summarize the lessons learned from these tribulations in what follows: 1) Hardware speed is a good thing, and maybe it was time to update. 2) Going through every piece of software and reinstalling/updating the useful packages takes a lot of time. Customizations can be tricky to export/import. Good documentation is key. 3) Examining software alternatives can make difference. In my case, I changed from VirtualBox to VMware (which is now free). 4) Some programs which run on Win10 cannot be run on Win11. Corel Ventura 10 is an example of this. I ended putting it on a W2K virtual machine. Some programs run only when core protection is off (e.g. some Acronis versions or Cherry keyboard software). 5) Decluttering and customizing the Windows 11 context menus can be done and is worth while but it is a bit complicated. The following tools proved useful for me: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2287432/(article) disable/enable context menu items rename/translate context menu items, e.g. in modify.nss what you have installed!), write: PDF' PhantomPDF\FoxitPhantomPDF.exe') timeconsuming (if you are not happy with the default menu system: https://www.quickaccesspopup.com/ 6) When I started my transition to Win11, I had a working Win10 machine alongside. To transfer files, .ZIP files or Acronis .TIB files were useful but a living computer proved to be essential for transferring settings from Registry or just for checking how something worked on the old machine. I ended up using a software KVM (https://github.com/input-leap/input-leap) to be able to use only one set of keyboard and mouse which are connected to my WIN11 machine. While not perfect, it works pretty well, and has been a good help in the transition. As I said earlier, I have 3 monitors, and I use NirSoft ControlMyMonitor (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/control_my_monitor.html), e.g. On my Lenovo WIN11, I switch to my HP Z400 using this command: C:\SY\controlmymonitor\ControlMyMonitor.exe /SetValue "\\.\DISPLAY2\Monitor0" 60 3 And on my HP Z400, I switch back to Lenovo by running this: C:\SY\controlmymonitor\ControlMyMonitor.exe /SetValue Primary 60 15 These shortcuts and the software KVM make it easy to jump to another computer. 7) How to find things in Win11? (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/search-indexing-in-windows-da061c83-af6b-095c-0f7a-4dfecda4d15a); folder(s) you want (Classic mode) or use Enhanced mode, 8) What about Start Menu? I still use Tray Command Line 5.03 (http://traycl.chat.ru/), size 166 KB. (Not listed in Google but the developer site is the right place for downloading, Archive.org has a bigger, maybe suspect, file). It works well in all modern Windows version (Win95 up to Win11). The easiest application launcher there is! Drag a shortcut onto it and create a command abbreviation. I have a help file for the abbreviations which opens with "h<enter>" form Tray Command Line. The Windows 11 Start dialog pinned programs feature is OK. I have disabled suggestions, and I have pinned a shortcuts folder to the Start dialog to have a panoramic view of all programs (when reinstalling programs I just gathered the Desktop shortcuts in this standard folder). I hope these tips may help someone when faced with the update to Win11 which is inevitable. Best regards, Kari Eveli LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland) lexitec@xxxxxxxxxx *** Lexitec Online *** Lexitec in English: https://www.lexitec.fi/english.html Lexitec English and Finnish dictionaries: https://sk.lexitec.fi/en/ Home page in Finnish: https://www.lexitec.fi/