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[Topher]

Windows 11 has passed Windows 10 usage on Steam for the first time ever, signally a shift in the right direction for Microsoft.

Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system has passed Windows 10 usage for Steam users for the first time since its launch in 2021. Windows 10 has been holding strong in recent years, despite Microsoft’s plans to end support for Windows 10 in October 2025. There are now signs that Windows 11 adoption is finally heading in the right direction for Microsoft.

Steam hardware survey data for August puts Windows 11 usage at 49 percent, an increase of more than 3 percent over the previous figure in July of nearly 46 percent. Windows 10 usage has dipped by around 3 percent to 47 percent, while macOS and Linux Steam usage has largely remained the same during August.

Usage of Windows 11 across the web has also been growing over the past year, too. In July 2023, Windows 11 had a market share of around 23 percent, and that has now grown to nearly 32 percent in August 2024, according to StatCounter.

Leaked data in October revealed Windows 11 was used by more than 400 million devices at the time, a slower adoption pace than Windows 10. It took Windows 10 a year to reach 400 million active devices, whereas it took Windows 11 two years to reach that same milestone. The discrepancy is partially due to upgrade eligibility for Windows 11. Microsoft first launched Windows 11 in October 2021 with strict hardware requirements, requiring a TPM security chip and CPUs released from 2018 onwards.

While Windows 11 was a free upgrade for Windows 10 users, millions of machines were left behind and unable to upgrade due to Microsoft’s hardware requirements. Windows 10 was offered as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users, and it didn’t have such strict restrictions on hardware so millions were able to upgrade instead of having to buy new devices.

Microsoft is now planning to charge businesses to continue using Windows 10 after its end of support in October 2025. Consumers will also be able to pay for additional security updates for Windows 10 for the first time ever, but Microsoft has only shared business pricing so far.

Windows 11 is now the most popular OS for PC gaming

Windows 11 usage is heading in the right direction, finally.

www.theverge.com

---

Steam Hardware & Software Survey

 

[Syphon Filter]

misleading since there are games outside of steam like wow, LoL,etc that have a huge fanbase still.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Microsoft's windows into my private life 11 spyware edition

 

[pasterpl]

Wasn’t this the case for years now?

 

[Buggy Loop]

misleading since there are games outside of steam like wow, LoL,etc that have a huge fanbase still.

And they would be exclusively be playing those games without ever logging to steam?

Maybe a few, a drop of water in the ocean and in the error margin

 

[Bojanglez]

What an amazing achievement.

 

[Topher]

misleading since there are games outside of steam like wow, LoL,etc that have a huge fanbase still.

Nothing misleading about it. Gamers on WoW, LoL, etc also play games on Steam.

 

[Unknown?]

Microsoft's windows into my private life 11 spyware edition

10 is just as bad for privacy as 11.

 

[Topher]

Microsoft's windows into my private life 11 spyware edition

Great tool for that problem:

The Ultimate Windows Utility

Having Fun with Technology

christitus.com

 

[simpatico]

Not hard to do since you literally have to work to stop Windows 10 to transforming into Windows 11.

 

[twilo99]

Best version of Windows by far

 

[DForce]

I restarted my computer 2 weeks ago and it automatically updated to Windows 11.

I tried for a year to hold off on the update.

 

[CuckooBananaNuts]

11 can be de-bloated quite easily. 10 lacks some of the modern gaming support that 11 has. Some gamers are still on 7 because they’re insane. 11 is fine, it’s just Microsoft as a company that sucks. The most important thing to do when using Windows is to have a proper backup system for your data. I mean, you should have one anyway, but Microsoft updates can break the entire OS or erase your data, as they’ve so wonderfully shown us before.

 

[LordOfChaos]

11 can be de-bloated quite easily. 10 lacks some of the modern gaming support that 11 has. Some gamers are still on 7 because they’re insane. 11 is fine, it’s just Microsoft as a company that sucks. The most important thing to do were using Windows is to have a proper backup system for your data. I mean, you should have one anyway, but Microsoft updates can break the entire OS or erase your data, as they’ve so wonderfully shown us before.

Yep, used a debloat tool, turned off telemetry etc, it even seems snappier. Thankfully they don't block those tools at all and Windows remains open to such things.

 

[rodrigolfp]

misleading since there are games outside of steam like wow, LoL,etc that have a huge fanbase still.

Some maybe plus the Steam survey is optional.

 

[Barneyco]

Great tool for that problem:

The Ultimate Windows Utility

Having Fun with Technology

christitus.com

Bookmarked, Thanks.

 

[Unknown?]

Great tool for that problem:

The Ultimate Windows Utility

Having Fun with Technology

christitus.com

That really doesn't do much. What you need is a DNS sinkhole that prevents connections to all known Microsoft ip's.

 

[Topher]

Bookmarked, Thanks.

There is a video that goes through it and makes recommendations.

That really doesn't do much. What you need is a DNS sinkhole that prevents connections to all known Microsoft ip's.

It disables telemetry. Disabling connections to all MS IPs is a bit extreme.

 

[T4keD0wN]

There is a video that goes through it and makes recommendations.



It disables telemetry. Disabling connections to all MS IPs is a bit extreme.

Is there some similar tool that reverts the UI and "right-click" menus along with removing some of the newly added and useless apps?

 

[StereoVsn]

There is a video that goes through it and makes recommendations.



It disables telemetry. Disabling connections to all MS IPs is a bit extreme.

Yeah, that looks good. I did something similar but with more powershell and reg editing.

Win11 isn’t bad once it’s tuned. The problem is that for your average user, that just won’t be happening. But then again do they care?

I guess for gaming you can probably get a few extra FPS though.

 

[nikos]

Only took three years for people to realize it's better than Windows 10.

 

[Topher]

Yeah, that looks good. I did something similar but with more powershell and reg editing.

Win11 isn’t bad once it’s tuned. The problem is that for your average user, that just won’t be happening. But then again do they care?

I guess for gaming you can probably get a few extra FPS though.

Yeah, this just packages all those powershell and reg hacks into an easy to use interface. Also allows you to disable Windows updates or only keep security updates, if you want. Handy tool.

 

[StereoVsn]

Yeah, this just packages all those powershell and reg hacks into an easy to use interface. Also allows you to disable Windows updates or only keep security updates, if you want. Handy tool.

Yep, it’s much nicer than firing up those fixes manually. Especially if one isn’t well versed with registry or powershell.

 

[Unknown?]

There is a video that goes through it and makes recommendations.



It disables telemetry. Disabling connections to all MS IPs is a bit extreme.

If someone has verified it through wireshark and it really does disable it, then that's great!

 

[adamsapple]

Would love to upgrade if my fucking laptop lets me.

Use it frequently for work machines and it's pretty good.

 

[YCoCg]

Would love to upgrade if my fucking laptop lets me.

If you want to upgrade just rufus it. It doesn't seem like they're going to relax the requirements anymore so using rufus to make a USB drive with the ISO allows you to bypass the requirements and install it.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

11 can be de-bloated quite easily. 10 lacks some of the modern gaming support that 11 has. Some gamers are still on 7 because they’re insane. 11 is fine, it’s just Microsoft as a company that sucks. The most important thing to do when using Windows is to have a proper backup system for your data. I mean, you should have one anyway, but Microsoft updates can break the entire OS or erase your data, as they’ve so wonderfully shown us before.

I've thankfully not have that happen yet (W10). If there's a bad update, Windows Update literally just blocks you from installing it; the update will fail to initiate. But maybe Insiders bypass that at the risk of breaking their OS, I dunno.

I will do a full backup eventually, when it's closer to either switch to 11 or a different OS (like some Linux distro).

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

with new hardware purchases and stuff, it will gradually increase its share.

The bigger question is whether it is the year of Linux or not?

 

[Hudo]

Much like how Ischaemic heart disease is the leading cause of death.

 

[Topher]

Is there some similar tool that reverts the UI and "right-click" menus along with removing some of the newly added and useless apps?

This does some of that as well. The updated version has a lot in it. Also, each item has a link with more info on what it does.

Worth a look.

 

[CuckooBananaNuts]

I've thankfully not have that happen yet (W10). If there's a bad update, Windows Update literally just blocks you from installing it; the update will fail to initiate. But maybe Insiders bypass that at the risk of breaking their OS, I dunno.

I will do a full backup eventually, when it's closer to either switch to 11 or a different OS (like some Linux distro).

That isn’t true at all.

 

[DaciaJC]

I tried it out a couple of weeks before because I wanted to see how handy AutoHDR was and I couldn't last even two days. Simply moving icons around on the desktop felt very sluggish and I hated the new right-click context menu. I went back to Win10 and the difference in snappiness was stark.

 

[StereoVsn]

with new hardware purchases and stuff, it will gradually increase its share.

The bigger question is whether it is the year of Linux or not?

Nah, while Linux is going to continue chipping away and increasing market share, it’s generally a bit too complex for most users, especially if something goes wrong or some hardware isn’t supported and you have to go into terminals and/or start editing .ini files.

Like sure, I can load Linux Mint on regular user PC and if they mainly use cloud, that’s fine. But as soon as they need to say open some piece of software that’s not on Linux or even do light troubleshooting it’s not going to go well.

It will increase its market share though, just not to the point it’s “year of Linux desktop” any time soon.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Great tool for that problem:

The Ultimate Windows Utility

Having Fun with Technology

christitus.com

I feel you are a better salesman than Microsoft. I had no intention of upgrading to 11, but you have me seriously considering it.

 

[Topher]

I feel you are a better salesman than Microsoft. I had no intention of upgrading to 11, but you have me seriously considering it.

oh shit....I'm gaining a rep..

 

[Dirk Benedict]

oh shit....I'm gaining a rep..

That Utility you posted has pressured me a bit, lol.

 

[Phase]

 

[Topher]

That Utility you posted has pressured me a bit, lol.

The thing I like about it is that it comes from Chris Titus, who is a highly reputable youtuber, and not some third party app that is just as likely to install malware as it is to fix anything.

 

[winjer]

That Utility you posted has pressured me a bit, lol.

Windows 11 after a clean-up of bloatware and spyware, and a couple of tweaks to the UI, becomes a decent OS.
With the ChrisTitus utility, it's rather easy.

 

[CuckooBananaNuts]

I tried it out a couple of weeks before because I wanted to see how handy AutoHDR was and I couldn't last even two days. Simply moving icons around on the desktop felt very sluggish and I hated the new right-click context menu. I went back to Win10 and the difference in snappiness was stark.

Something was wrong with your computer on Windows 11 or the Windows 11 install itself. Also, the old context menu can easily be restored to the way it was.

 

[winjer]

The thing I like about it is that it comes from Chris Titus, who is a highly reputable youtuber, and not some third party app that is just as likely to install malware as it is to fix anything.

Also worth pointing out is that this utility is open source, meaning anyone can read the code and see what it's doing.
They ca also add code to the project to help improve it.

GitHub - ChrisTitusTech/winutil: Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility - Install Programs, Tweaks, Fixes, and Updates

Chris Titus Tech's Windows Utility - Install Programs, Tweaks, Fixes, and Updates - ChrisTitusTech/winutil

github.com

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Windows 11 after a clean-up of bloatware and spyware, and a couple of tweaks to the UI, becomes a decent OS.
With the ChrisTitus utility, it's rather easy.

Might as well... I'll be back later, under a new OS.

 

[reinking]

oh shit....I'm gaining a rep..

Satya Nadella right now...

 

[rodrigolfp]

"right-click" menus

Redirecting

 

[winjer]

Might as well... I'll be back later, under a new OS.

Regardless of what CPU you have, don't forget to disable Memory Integrity and Virtual Machine Platform.
These are security features, that most people don't need. But they cause a performance hit.

Options to optimize gaming performance in Windows 11 - Microsoft Support

Directions for turning off memory integrity and the Virtual Machine Platform to improve gaming performance, and the risks of doing so.

support.microsoft.com

 

[simpatico]

I suspect we can draw a direct line between Windows 11 enjoyers and modern Star Wars enjoyers. "It's good enough! just be thankful they're making it at all"

 

[winjer]

I suspect we can draw a direct line between Windows 11 enjoyers and modern Star Wars enjoyers. "It's good enough! just be thankful they're making it at all"

Trust me, no one enjoys Windows 11.
It's just a matter of higher pain threshold.

 

[Melon Husk]

It's an abusive relationship.

 

[King Dazzar]

Interesting. I was more surprised to see 47% still sticking with W10.

 

[CuckooBananaNuts]

Interesting. I was more surprised to see 47% still sticking with W10.

Most people stick with Windows 10 because their PCs are not compatible and can't upgrade to Windows 11. Most people don't know how to bypass this restriction. The fact that most PCs aren't compatible is honestly why this information shocks me the most.