What Was the Best and Worst Windows OS For You?

[Dr. Dro]

My top 5:

1. Windows XP x64 (based on 2003 R2 code base) - it's extremely lightweight and lightning quick, it was well supported on the X58 platform with GeForce graphics despite the general driver availability woes
2. Windows Vista Ultimate - workflow and user experience probably peaked here, and it would have been a no-contest win as far as eye candy and functionality goes if it supported Windows 7's corner peek feature. Unfortunately, hardware wasn't ready for it and it got a terrible reputation due to driver stability problems and OEMs selling "Vista-capable" PCs with a single-core chip and 512MB of RAM
3. Windows 2000 - probably the most versatile OS that will ever exist for its exceptionally slim footprint
4. Windows 10/11 (they are really the same OS) - extremely powerful OS despite workflow shortcomings and technical problems that come from Microsoft's strict enforcement of update and security policies due to some Windows users' persistent and ingrained bad habits of using modified pirated system images and taking no steps to maintain and update their systems, rather serviceable if you have the right tools (perma-disable Windows Defender, telemetry, install Winaero Tweaker, Start11 or RetroBar, etc.)
5. Windows 7, while I largely consider it to be Service Pack 3 for Vista, it's been a stable and reliable OS through its long and dragged-out service life. Time to stop using it though folks. Whatever you need Windows 7 for, use VirtualBox or VMware to run it.

 

[kozad]

Best - Windows 2000 (have you seen how fast it loads vs XP? Whew.)
Worst - Windows XP x64/Windows RT/Windows on ARM

I'm loving Windows 11. It's not the best, but it also a far cry from the worst.

 

[mechtech]

Most favourable
Win 2K pro
XP SP2+
Win 7 x64

Most unfavourable
ME - issues probably more from capacitor plague
Win 8 - wth happened to the gui!??!

So far best is Win 7 Enterprise & 10 Enterprise LTSC.
After much customizing I like Win 11 Pro so far. I need it for my two Alder Lake rigs.
Worst was Vista (and I was a MS beta tester back then). I even threw the RTM disc MS sent me away.

Was thinking of trying that. How is it? Full control like the OS's of yore?

 

[wheresmycar]

I've never had a problem with any of the windows versions...

Windows 7 just felt great and its the longest used OS for me... more features and best UI. Win 10 is a good follow up. But then again i'm not a complex user hence can't compare the spaghetti insides

hated XP/vista... didnt like 8/8.1 either.... i had to switch back to 7 on a couple of personal machines.

 

[chrcoluk]

I feel Windows 2000 was the cleanest and most reliable Windows OS I have used.

Worst not sure. XP had a rough start, it had its BSOD issues related to AGP buffer size and security problems, but it still overall a considerable improvement over non NT Windows, Maybe Windows ME, but I barely used ME so would be putting that there purely on its reputation. Vista out of ones I tried to use I would say, superfetch on that was in its infancy and it would grind away on the hdd for hours grinding pre loading of media I watched before reboot, it ran really bad on anything that wasnt a high end machine, and had a bunch of compatibility issues due to all the changes imposed on hardware vendors. As I understand it though Vista in its final days had become more polished.

 

[mb194dc]

Best in terms of improvement over what came before? Windows 2000 and it's not even close.

Xp, 7 and 10 just built on it.

 

[eidairaman1]

Best is 98SE and Windows 7, worst is Vista and 10.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Best: Windows 2000, Windows XP.

XP was is often praised but I think that's due to being the first consumer version built on Win2k, ME being terrible, Vista not being all that great, and Win7 not releasing until 8 years after XP.

3. Windows 2000 - probably the most versatile OS that will ever exist for its exceptionally slim footprint

Best - Windows 2000 (have you seen how fast it loads vs XP? Whew.)

I feel Windows 2000 was the cleanest and most reliable Windows OS I have used.

Best in terms of improvement over what came before? Windows 2000 and it's not even close.

Win2K would have topped the list for me if it hadn't been so quickly supplanted by XP, and almost entirely absent in the consumer space. It was arguably the better OS, but didn't get the time to shine that it deserved.

 

[qubit]

Best: W7

Worst: Win 9x

 

[_JP_]

I'm so much a Millennial, that my intro to computers was with Windows ME, making it a triple-entedre about life and my line of work, I guess.

That being said, I vote 7 for "best all-rounder", 2000 (SP4) for "SPEEED AND POWER", Vista for the "eye-candy once you had over 512MB of RAM and vRAM" and (late) game support (SP2), XP SP3 for that "break-n-fix" guilty pleasure.
"You're Winner" award goes to 8, "Stress-induced-baldness" goes to Pre-Service Pack XP, "Just why?" to RT and every "Starter" version. Finally, the "No, Larry, we're not upgrading all the computers yet." award goes to Windows 10 (1507, 1607, 1803, 2004).

Not going to comment on 11, haven't got enough flight hours on it.

 

[Lost_Troll]

Best:
1) NT 4
2) 2000
3) 7
4) 10 and 11
5) XP 32
6) NT 3.51
Worst:
1) 95
2) 98 and SE
3) Vista
4) 8

I am on 11 and like it so far over 10.

 

[mechtech]

To me best ones:
-Windows 98(&SE). for gaming and internet was ok(better than Win95)
-XP SP1&SP2.
-Windows 7. Probably the best Consumer Windows ever.
-Windows 10. Almost all LTSB and LTSC versions but not LTSC 2019. Don't like the consumer-versions(app editions) at all.

what about 2021 LTSC?? Was thinking of trying one of them.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I think the worst versions were Windows Vista and 7 "Ultimate" editions, which basically offered little ultimateness. I actually had Vista Ultimate, which I was able to get for like $40 because my buddy's brother worked at MS and got us the massive insider discounts. Other than the game "Tinker," it was no more special than any other version.

I really haven't had too much trouble with any Windows versions. I liked Me, even, but maybe because it reminds me of college, Napster, Winamp, and endless hours of Quake 2 multiplayer on dorm LAN--back when there were huge disparities in ping depending on if you were stuck on dial-up.

 

[sepheronx]

Of all my years with Windows with my first go with 3.1... I would say Windows 2000 was my most favorite OS.

 

[Mussels]

Windows 2000 was the peak for me, with ME being the worst.

I had access to both as pre-release versions back then and tried out both, 2000 was rock solid stable. Never crashed, never errored, just damn well ran like a champion with extremely low RAM usage - XP felt like 2000 with some user friendly defaults, in the long run.


ME wanted new drivers, and they were always buggy. Always crashing, BSOD's and memory leaks inherent to the OS requiring reboots after every gaming session

 

[mb194dc]

Win2K would have topped the list for me if it hadn't been so quickly supplanted by XP, and almost entirely absent in the consumer space. It was arguably the better OS, but didn't get the time to shine that it deserved.

It was the first NT OS which allowed you to install the latest DirectX and other features. I used NT 4 as desktop OS, was limited to Directx 3 though... was pretty revelatory in terms of stability and performance compared to the other branch, Win 98 (or worse ME!).

MS then must realise how good 2000 was and quickly end the 98 / ME branch and push everyone on to the NT Branch in the form of Xp.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Best was Windows 7
Worst was Windows ME

Mine is similar;
Best = Windows 7
Worst = Windows 8/8.1

I loved WinME. Properly configured it was much more stable than Win98SE and had a smoother feel to it.
Windows 11 is shaping up nicely, once properly configured and roped in. If it weren't for all of microsoft's bloatware nonsense, hardware limitations BS and account humbuggery, it would be great!

-All before Win95.

You didn't miss much. Windows 3.11 was good but was a pain to configure. Made what I do now to get Windows11 good and proper look like child's play.

and just started Windows 11.

If you want tips for getting the most out of it, come over to the Windows 11 General Discussion thread and chime in.

Even 95C ran better for me.

Windows95C was very rock solid. I'm impressed, not too many people know that.

Time to stop using it though folks. Whatever you need Windows 7 for, use VirtualBox or VMware to run it.

No. Just no.

 

[lZKoce]

Well, I was kind a kid, but used 98 for a bit, then XP for a LOOONG time. 2000 and Vista I basically skipped.

Win 7 was groundbreaking for me. It fixed the language support which was plaguing me for so long (among other things it did right).

For me 8/10/11 carried a lot of the legacy from 7. Everything NOT XP, I am happy with. Been using 11 since it launched. For the most part I like it a lot, what annoys me the most is the right-click menu. Whoever thought you need two additional clicks to make 7-zip extract something should be forced to use his/her own creation. Other than this unnecessary layer to reach some of the stuff in 11, I am pretty OK with it.

 

[Dr. Dro]

No. Just no.

It's not like you have a say. In a month even Chrome is dropping it, Firefox follows... Windows 7 doesn't have 6 months left in it even if you're one of the most ardent holdouts. Haven't gotten a GPU driver update in a year. You can keep using it if you want... but your computer will become completely useless overnight once browsers drop it. Too many web-based applications that will no longer function in it, and the older the graphics driver support becomes, the worse things tend to get in general. Once Chromium 110 lands - that's it, and it's scheduled for February 7 2023.

I understand your sentiment (even though I do not sympathize with it, I do not miss Windows 7 in the slightest), but time to deploy another operating system has come, gone, come again and gone again for you - and you should have your plan B ready as soon as it is feasible to do so.

 

[kambei.7s]

That windows operating systems worst and good for it's age for me, I used it all, only my experiences and opinion with it below.
9x
Worst:
1. ME
2. 95
3. 98 w/o SE
Best: 98SE

NT (NT 3 and 4 does not have dx as I remember so that's reason why I didn't used it)
Worst: Win8 (not 8.1)
Vista before SP2
Win 11

Best: Win 2k SP2+
WinXP SP2+
Win7 SP1
Win10 Ltsc 1809/2021

only if I can I prefer to stay on XP/7 for long as I can, but modern software and hardware dictate rules.

 

[LifeOnMars]

Honestly, gaming wise, Win 11 22H2 is providing the smoothest gaming experience I have ever had (Which contradicts a lot of reports out there) I'm not questioning it, I'm just going with it Probably has more to do with the fact that I have the most balanced hardware config I've ever had.

In terms of favourite and best, I loved Windows 7 but actually really loved the look of Vista and all its candy-pop gaudiness. It used to cheer me up after a hard day at work...until it crashed.

My worst version of Windows was XP. I was inexperienced at the time and used to get no end of errors (PEBCAK). Also, like most people, I had slow ass dial up so internet browsing was shit and then on top of all that, my hardware was severely lacking Still, it gave me a lot of experience with Windows and how to tweak/solve various issues so it still served a purpose.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It's not like you have a say.

Oh? Try and stop me!

In a month even Chrome is dropping it

Couldn't care less about Chrome. However, Iron, a Chromium fork focused on ACTUAL security will still be running on 7 for at least another year.

Firefox follows...

No, it isn't. Firefox will still run on Windows 7 for the foreseeable future.

but your computer will become completely useless overnight once browsers drop it.

There is soo much wrong with that statement I don't even know where to begin. I know you mean well and you're not picking a fight, but man you gotta stop with the silly statements.

I loved Windows 7 but actually really loved the look of Vista and all its candy-pop gaudiness.

Me too! Vista did have a great visual look to it!

 

[Dr. Dro]

Oh? Try and stop me!

Couldn't care less about Chrome. However, Iron, a Chromium fork focused on ACTUAL security will still be running on 7 for at least another year.

No, it isn't. Firefox will still run on Windows 7 for the foreseeable future.

There is soo much wrong with that statement I don't even know where to begin. I know you mean well and you're not picking a fight, but man you gotta stop with the silly statements.

I mean, you do you, I'm indeed not picking a fight, but I dunno, once a computer stops running CEF (and thus Steam, Discord, etc.) and falls behind on the graphics support schedule, its usefulness drops tremendously to me. I play video games, watch HDR content every now and then... those things become a bit less critical if you are just doing office, though.

I've heard of Mozilla evaluating extending 7 support further because a lot of Firefox users still use it, but even then, they will have to drop it sooner or later.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I mean, you do you, I'm indeed not picking a fight, but I dunno, once a computer stops running CEF (and thus Steam, Discord, etc.) and falls behind on the graphics support schedule, its usefulness drops tremendously to me. I play video games, watch HDR content every now and then... those things become a bit less critical if you are just doing office, though.

The thing is, my Windows 7 box is not my internet daily driver, that system has Windows 11 on it. But it fills an important purpose and other versions of Windows are very problematic. So for that system, it's Windows 7 or Windows 7. But It games just fine. Current titles still run perfectly on Windows 7, so to call it useless is just not true.

However, we're getting off topic a bit so I'll leave it there..

 

[Dr. Dro]

The thing is, my Windows 7 box is not my internet daily driver, that system has Windows 11 on it. But it fills an important purpose and other version of Windows are very problematic. So for that system, it's Windows 7 or Windows 7. But It games just fine. Current titles still run perfectly on Windows 7, so to call it useless is just not true.

Yeah, it's fine if you use it on a side box or anything, should even be OK to connect to the internet if you have good security habits, which I've no doubt you do. Only problem is, people demanding that it's supported as a main OS and that every program is maintained forever for it, and that... is a hard proposition if you ask me

Newer games developed with the PS5/Xbox Series generation already require 10 1809 or newer in general, and most devs have rebaselined their games to Windows 8.1 as a minimum, which is good, IMO, since you can take advantage of things like DirectFlip and all that just aren't possible on the old DWM.