Which version of Microsoft Windows would you say was best?

[PLD]

Personally, I intend to use Windows 7 as long as possible, and if the rumours of them extending support to 2026 are true that could be a while. Thoughts?

[Batcathat]

I'd probably agree with you on Windows 7, though my current computer came with Windows 10 which I find works decent enough (at least compared to something like Windows 8). I really liked Windows XP at the time, though I suspect it'd feel clunky by today's standards.

[J-H]

7, because it still has all the core functions of XP that I care about.

My work laptop has Win10 and I am not a fan. You have to work hard to get the Quick Access toolbar back, there's no way to delete "Pin to Taskbar" from the right click start menu options, and worst of all, they got rid of the "recent documents" menu option. The closest you can get is a shortcut that opens a Windows Explorer screen of recently accessed files. Also, the brightness and fonts seem to be off, as I had to switch to Dark Mode, which I've never had to do with any other computer. In general, the useful stuff is gone and a lot of things are more locked down in less user-friendly ways.
I've heard Win11 goes a step farther and makes it impossible to put the taskbar on the left of the screen, where it belongs for maximum utility in terms of windows open.

Also get off my lawn and turn down your loud music.

[Telok]

Win 3.whagrver. it was the last time Windows was a gui for your file system & shortcuts/links instead of a bloatware, nanny state, half virus spyware browser trying to act like a gui.

Had to use a hex editor to corrupt files for stuff XP wouldn't let me actually delete (they reappeared next reboot). Spent an internship in IT constantly backing up, reformatting, reinstalling, and the using scripts & tools to neuter as much unwanted "features" & Windows 7/10 constantly reporting to home (company had areas where they needed budget computers & net access but had to bleed by the kb for satellite internet to get even 256k upload speeds). Not impressed with win 10 and talking to our networking peeps they're seriously not looking forward to 11.

I use a freaking linux bash shell to search the file system because Windows search is 300% ****. Find all files with one of two file types on a network drive with 25 years of documents & other files on it. Bash script maybe 10 minutes, Windows doesn't even finish in 20, won't do nice sorting, and never finds them all anyways. Utter **** for a super basic file system function.

[TaiLiu]

Like, right now? Windows 10, I guess. It's decent for the average user, and I'm certainly closer to that than to a power user or whatever. I liked the UI. But as an average user I also liked Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Cuz it worked for basic web browsing and word processing and whatever.

I agree that Windows isn't the best, though. I've switched to a linux distribution and the package management system is such a blessing. God. Dealing with Windows programs and updates was such a pain.

[Yora]

I would subjectively go with WinXP. It's just like Win98, except that it crashes a lot less. Though on the downside, it also took away all kinds of functions to manually change settings and forcing users to go with the default presets.

Having an interface like Win98 was one of the main reasons I switched to Linux. To this day I don't know how the menus and task bars in modern Windows work.

[Bulhakov]

In my opinion - XP. It was a significant improvement over the 95/98/NT/2000 variants. It was stable with many improved service packs. It worked for almost a decade, with many customers resisting the switch to Vista or 7 (I know I skipped Vista and went directly to 7, then skipped 8 and went for 10). Some of my lab equipment actually still uses XP due to very specific fixed latency audio drivers, and I hear the US military is still using XP as well in a lot of their equipment.

[Aedilred]

I've used 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, Me, XP, Vista, 7, 8 (and 8.1), 7 and 10, for varying lengths of time and in various contexts. Of those, the two I have used longest and have most affection for are XP and, surprisingly, 8.1. Back in the 'aughts, both 3.1 and 98 had their nostalgic adherents among my friends (95 being considered good in principle but too unstable, and reaching its perfect form in 98) but there was also a grudging recognition that XP offered much more flexibility than either, essentially doing everything you wanted it to and supporting or at least doing a very good impression of supporting a wide range of user expertise. There was definite grumbling that there was no need to replace XP, but I think that was the last time I said it and really meant it.

XP's reputation is probably improved by the absolute dumpster fires that were Vista and (to a lesser extent) Me either side of it. I think the Vista disaster also hurt 7, a much better system, because the people being asked to upgrade were either XP-diehards suspicious of any update and considering Vista had proved their point, or those who had switched to Vista and were leery of being forced to update again so soon. 8 was also a disaster but the aftercare was handled much better, and 8.1 has always functioned perfectly for me, despite some annoyances around finding key setting menus.

If I'm being honest 10 probably is better than 8.1 for what I use it for these days, but I took against it because of the privacy issues disclosed prior to launch and so stuck with 8.1 on what was then my primary home machine until I needed a hardware upgrade. But I still use the older machine (I am typing this post on it).