f you write software, you know the problem: Your program
compiles and runs perfectly. Then a new version of the OS comes
along and suddenly, unbeknownst to you, it stops working.
Compilers, even for old languages like C, change in seemingly arbitrary ways. What was once legal now gives a warning. What once gave a warning is now an error. In Windows, the first symptom is that software won’t install. Linux has the additional problem of multiple incompatible window managers. We end up with dialog boxes showing up in the background (which gives it a Windowsy feel), focus being changed in the middle of updating a screen, graphics and text going to the wrong window, and users complaining. My solution: stop releasing software.
I rarely use Windows, so I kept a budget HP on W7 around for years. You might remember those. The sheet metal was like foil. All but two USB ports got broken, the sliding door on front was broken, the monitor was broken, and the hard drive light ran continuously. Worse, nothing would install. Not because it was old, but because each new version of Windows obsoletes most existing software. Tax software won’t install on anything before W10. Matlab now ‘requires’ W11. Many websites don’t work because people no longer check whether their HTML works—or maybe they’re just blocking W7. So I had to replace it and face a whole new and improved bunch of problems.
In Windows buying a new computer now means buying all new software. It raises two questions: (1) Why buy commercial software at all? and (2) Is it still worth backing it up? In Linux most software is free, but Linux is notorious for making drastic changes that render everything, even text-mode utilities, non-functional. Some of us still remember when Linux switched from a.out to elf. When they replace X11 with Wayland, this will probably happen again.
One ‘free’ Windows molecular modeling software installed a hidden license file. If it saw one, it wouldn’t download a new version, meaning you could never upgrade their software. That company has since disappeared. Most software now makes you enter a license number. That’s only a temporary solution. The fact is that whether you’re using Windows or Linux, you’re already using subscription software. The only difference is the period before your software expires.
Windows 11 problems and solutions
The new Windows icon is now a purple swirl that bears a striking resemblance to what you get when you use blue toilet cleaner. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. Like a grocery store that inexplicably moves the French fries from Aisle 7 to Aisle 26, Windows has also moved everything around. You need two things just to start it up: a Microsoft account and a DHCP server.
DHCP
W11 requires a DHCP server so it can ‘register’ the PC and download updates from Redmond before starting up. I consider DHCP on the router to be a security risk. In the past, I’d fire up ISC DHCPD in Linux, get Windows running, then set the IP to static. But the ISC version on my distro won’t install from the media and the old version no longer compiles because the C compiler has changed again. ISC now tells us to migrate to something new, but I eventually found version 4.4.3-P1 and it still compiled and ran perfectly.
Microsoft account
You also need a Microsoft account before W11 will start up so MS can bombard you with ads. If you have gmail, you already have one. If not, you must create one. The Internet is full of tricks for avoiding this, but the loopholes are now blocked.
Solution: create a regular user and use that. This means W11 repeatedly bugs you for your ‘PIN code’, which is a four-digit password, whenever you change something. It’s a way to nudge users into running as regular users instead of Administrator. This is a good practice, something Unix has had from the beginning, except in Windows it’s still clumsy.
Networking
Windows’s weakest point has always been its networking. To share files with other computers, it’s easier if you use the same username on each one. If you gave Windows the same username and password as the other computer, it would log you in without asking for credentials. This is very risky because if your laptop gets stolen, the miscreant now has access to all your computers. To avoid this, use different passwords on each machine. This causes the little dialog box to pop up the first time you connect. Windows apparently remembers your password until you reboot, even if you tell it not to, so it’s still unsafe.
Another common problem is getting CIFS file sharing to work. This was the only thing Windows had that ever worked, but now it’s a challenge. Turning off the firewall and changing the privacy settings don’t help. Solution: in Control Panel (yes, it’s still in there!) click on ‘Programs and Features.’ Click ‘Turn windows features on or off’. It will pop up a giant checklist. Click on ‘SMB 1.0/CIFS file sharing support.’ (SMB 1 is unsafe. Linux’s Samba was supposed to have dropped it years ago, but it’s apparently still needed to connect.)
White space
Windows dialog boxes are now filled with white space, which makes them annoying. So far no solution.
may 28 2026, 7:32 am
