It is PC Gamer’s Gripes Week and you already know what Windows 11 is… principally tremendous. But it certain ain’t good

I’ll be sincere, I actually thought we might have extra gripes about Microsoft’s pervasive working system as a crew. For all the thrill about SteamOS and the still-raw potential of Linux as a gaming platform, just about everybody on the PC Gamer crew remains to be operating Windows on their fundamental programs. There are definitely some complaints concerning the huge M’s newest working system, and a few widespread complaints, too.

Audio is an everyday ache within the rear in the case of Windows—although the identical is definitely true of Linux distros, too—and the various, many alternative settings and management panel screens within the OS is one other common criticism.

But as a lot as there are frustrations with the software program itself, and its propensity to improve you with out asking, particularly if you happen to’re nonetheless rocking Windows 10, it actually appears the groupthink is the working system itself is definitely kinda tremendous. Most of us are alright with largely ignoring its varied foibles and simply getting on with taking part in our video games, and it is simply the thought of the dominant pressure of Microsoft (and its less-than-stellar present moral insurance policies) that is possibly irritating the again of our brains.

As I say although, we do have gripes, so permit us a second of cathartic expression of our collective Windows-based grievances. Let us know what your largest Windows gripes are within the feedback.

They got rid of WordPad for no good reason

What the hell, man? I’m just supposed to forget decades of muscle memory that sees me type “word” into Windows search whenever I want to jot something down? And for what? Because the ability to make text bold is too advanced for software packaged with Windows? [*cough* Notepad *cough* -Ed.] Gotta sell those Microsoft 365 subscriptions?
—Tyler Wilde, Editor-in-chief, US

So. Much. Legacy. Crap.

One of the biggest boons and pitfalls of Windows as an operating system is the sheer amount of legacy—for want of a better word—crap baked into it. On the one hand that allows us to still play games from the ’90s on a modern gaming PC, sometimes to lesser or greater degrees of success, it must be said. But on the other hand there is so much old stuff still floating around in the background that it can feel a little bit like going back in time trying to find that one specific setting toggle you know is in there somewhere.

You’ll sometimes find yourself in some sort of Windows 2000-era backwater of your OS, with the desiccated corpse of Clippy slumped against the corner of your desktop, covered in cobwebs, just trying to figure out how to disable a network adapter.

Seriously, why does the Control Panel still exist in a world where Windows 11 has a settings area where all that stuff should exist? Mostly because the little applets still work and no-one in Microsoft can be bothered to create updated versions in its Fluent Design UI. And because they’re all very busy figuring out new ways to jam AI into our daily lives to amaze and annoy in generally unequal measure.

Still, it does give rise to some amusing bugs on occasion, such as the one where the Vista startup noise appears on Windows 11 machines. That jump-scare has been known to engender some real PTSD-like symptoms in those who actually had to suffer through arguably Microsoft’s worst operating system, ever.
—Dave James, Editor-in-chief, Hardware

Total Start Menu and Taskbar downgrade

Windows 10 had its problems, but the taskbar and start menu were really good, with search based architecture that made finding things a breeze. Somehow, Windows 11 has thrown out all of that good work. The Start Menu earns my ire about 5 times a day

For the taskbar: you need to do some serious tweaks to return the Start button to its correct spot on the bottom left of the screen. Once that’s done, it’s hard to work out which apps are running and which apps are merely pinned for quick access. The taskbar buttons also show less information than the Windows 10 buttons, making this a flat downgrade.
—Jake Tucker, Editorial Director, PC Gaming Show

Windows Wi-FI weirdness

Why won’t Windows 11 ever install Wi-Fi or LAN drivers when you’re on a fresh install?!

Every time I go to build a PC, the darn thing requires manually installing the correct drivers, or circumventing the whole ‘connect to a network’ screen altogether with some command line shenanigans. This never seemed a big issue on Windows 10—I suspect due to the fact it was much more easy going on the install requirements than the newer OS and didn’t require access to a network. But Windows 11? No, you have to first have a panic about your motherboard being broken, the Wi-Fi not working properly, and then realise it’s all a big driver facade.

The command line prompt that used to get around this was OOBEBYPASSNRO. This bypass has since been ‘patched’ (if that’s even the correct term for removing a handy workaround). Don’t worry, you can still use this new command line workaround for Windows 11. Though you can always try to install the drivers from a USB stick on the set-up screen, I just find it doesn’t always work.
—Jacob Ridley, Managing Editor, Hardware

Windows unhides my taskbar all the time and I’m sick of that shit

For some 25 years I have been setting my Windows taskbar to autohide, like my father before me. And for some 25 years Windows has tried to unhide my taskbar every couple weeks for some bullshit reason or another while continuing to offer the feature through what I assume must be bloody gritted teeth

— @wes.readonlymemo.com (@wes.readonlymemo.com.bsky.social) 2025-08-08T13:39:05.033Z

I’m a taskbar auto-hider. Always have been, all the time will probably be—not less than so long as I’m utilizing Windows. I’m increasingly more tempted to ditch it for Linux by the yr, although, as gaming on distros like Bazzite grow to be a lot simpler to make use of and Microsoft makes itself one of many least interesting corporations on earth by doing issues like firing its personal workers for bravely criticizing it supplying know-how to the Israeli navy.

I suppose that is a bit heavy for a gripe! Aside from the entire “financially benefitting from a genocidal regime” factor, boy is it certain annoying when Windows 11 decides that my fundamental monitor taking a number of seconds to get up means it ought to scramble each window I’ve open and pin the taskbar to display screen. Here’s an thought, Windows: simply do not change any of my settings by your self, ever, and possibly I’ll hold you put in for one more couple years.
—Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor

I join three standup meetings per week. On paper, these video calls are where we check in, discuss what we’re working on, and assign stories for the immediate future. In practice, it’s a thrice-weekly Sisyphean gauntlet for my audio configuration, during which I’ll frequently discover that Windows has lost track of what input and output devices are plugged into it despite the fact that nothing has changed since the last meeting.

What’s particularly maddening about it is that Microsoft’s diligent mangling of its own menu conventions has turned an annoyance into a Lovecraftian cognitohazard. Settings that used to be tucked into a single control panel directory have been disarticulated and scattered under compounding layers of UI revision; they’re usually still there, somewhere, but the specific sequence of menu selections to find them have probably changed four times in as many years and could be gone entirely next month.

I don’t know if this will ever improve. I don’t know if it can. I would cry for help, but I can’t be sure my mic would pick it up.
—Lincoln Carpenter, News Writer