ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET key takeaways Jack Wallen spends a week using Windows 11. During this experiment, he experienced a whole gamut of issues. In the end, it made him appreciate Linux all the more. "Why do people willingly use Windows?" Less than one hour into my experiment, this question came to mind, and over the next seven days, I was unable to arrive at an answer. Hello, my name is Jack Wallen, and I'm a glutton for punishment. For whatever reason, a week ago today, I decided to switch my default operating system from Linux to Windows. I did not come at it with any preconceived conclusions. In fact, I wanted the experience to be positive. I wanted to start using Windows and experience all the reasons people use the OS for both business and personal use. Surely, Windows 11 was an efficient, zippy, user-friendly, and reliable operating system, right? Turns out, it was none of those things. Also: Want to ditch Windows? This Linux distro makes that transition easy Remember, this is coming from a longtime Linux user who has been accustomed to using an OS that is capable of being and functioning exactly how I want it to. I'm used to being in control of my desktop -- not having my desktop be in control of me. That's exactly how I felt while using Windows 11. I'd been moved out of the driver's seat and relegated with the children in the back seat, as the adults insisted we do what they want, how they want, and when they want. Let me share with you my experience. Hopefully, after reading this, you'll finally want to ditch Windows for Linux. 1. Creating a local account was a pain Right out of the gate, Windows 11 showed me just how painful it was going to be. I did not want to use a Windows account to log into the operating system (and why would anyone willingly do that?). So, I set about to create a local account. Wow, what a pain that was. In Linux, I can create an account with the command sudo adduser jack. Answer a few simple questions (such as full name and password), and that's it. I can log out of one account and log in with the other. Also: I found a Linux distro that combines the best parts of other operating systems (and it works) With Windows 11, I pretty much had to sell my soul, do a backflip, promise to kneel at the foot of Microsoft, and learn to fly. OK, that's what it felt like. Your first steps with an OS should not be hair-pullingly frustrating. 2. Google Passkeys will not work Ah, Google and its passkeys. This is another point of contention because they rolled out a service that simply wasn't ready. Also: How passkeys work: The complete guide to your inevitable passwordless future Now, I'm not sure if this is Google's or Microsoft's problem, but no matter what I did, I could not sign in to my Google account. Mind you, I could create a new Linux virtual machine and, within seconds, be connected to my Google account. But with Windows, I had to enable the "Hello" service before passkeys would work. Even then (with my Google passkey literally in hand), Windows 11 wouldn't play along. Come on! 3. An email client that really frustrated me I needed an email client, and I thought I'd try one from the Microsoft App Store. The email client in question was Mailbird. Once I had Mailbird installed and an account added, the app decided it wanted me to pony up for the paid version by way of a pop-up. But this wasn't any old pop-up. This pop-up prevented me from accessing other apps. I couldn't open the process monitor to close Mailbird, and I couldn't open the terminal window to close Mailbird. I was stuck. Also: Can't upgrade to Windows 11? This is the Linux distro alternative I recommend to most people The only solution I found was to reboot and work as quickly as I could to delete the app before Mailbird mysteriously opened (without my doing so) and took control. I eventually succeeded, but it took me several tries. With Linux, I could have used SSH to log in to the desktop and uninstall Mailbird from the command line. 4. Natural scrolling is so unnatural The next thing I had to do was disable natural scrolling. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be fired. Off to Settings I went. The feature was fairly simple to find, and I switched it to my preferred scrolling direction. Also: Why the end of Windows 10 is great news for Linux - and your chance to switch That should have been the end of it, but no! For whatever reason, I could not get Windows to honor the change. No matter what I did, Windows 11 insisted natural scrolling was what I wanted. Au contraire, mon ami. The entire time I used Windows 11, my brain had to constantly readjust itself and remember I was living in Bizzaroworld. 5. Ads? Are you kidding me? Seriously. I saw ads in the far-left end of the Windows 11 panel. I also spotted them in the desktop menu. Why would anyone be OK with this? Also: 5 reasons you should ditch Windows for Linux today To avoid that altogether, I installed the Seelen window manager so I didn't have to see ads, nor did I have to look at that boring Windows 11 UI. Ads... in an OS. Sheesh. 6. Save As defaults to OneDrive? Why? After about an hour working with Windows 11, I had to save a file and noticed that it immediately defaulted to OneDrive. I hadn't even logged in to my OneDrive account (because I never use it). This was very frustrating for me because I do not want my work saved to a cloud account (for several reasons, many of which have to do with AI). Also: 7 most Windows-like Linux distros - if you're ready to ditch Microsoft I wanted to remove OneDrive from the entire experience but decided it wasn't worth the effort for a weeklong experiment. 7. Windows 11 uses so many resources After I realized that the laptop I was using ran really hot and the fans were constantly kicking on, I did a bit of quick investigating and found the msedgewebview2.exe process to be the problem. This process is part of the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, and it consumes considerable resources. The crazy thing is, I wasn't even using Edge. I installed Opera and used it exclusively. Also: Is this Linux mini PC a viable alternative to Windows? Here's why it worked out for me I'm sure there's a good reason why msedgewebview2.exe was running, but to consume more resources than Opera with ten or so tabs open is crazy. 8. Virus and threat protection This is Windows, so I fully understand the need for protection. I cannot imagine using this OS without a few levels of protection because, without it, it's just a matter of time before something nefarious happens. Also: Yes, you can run Windows apps on Linux - here are my top 5 ways I decided to check in on it and found, to my shock, that Virus and Threat Protection was not enabled, nor was account protection or app and browser control. From the looks of it, the first two are cloud-based and Windows account-based. However, on another page within Windows Security, both are listed as On. What's the disconnect? I would never experience this on Linux (nor would I need to). To be honest, I expected to find out that too many protection services were up and running -- not the opposite. 9. Power and battery options I used a laptop to test Windows 11. During my first few hours, I noticed something: the laptop screen wasn't going black, nor was it going into hibernation. Doesn't Windows 11 auto-detect if it's being used on a laptop? Linux sure does. Had I not known to look for this, I could have been using that laptop unplugged and prematurely run out of battery. Why is that the default? Also: I converted this Windows 11 mini PC into a Linux work station - and didn't regret it On top of all the above issues, I always felt as if something was going to crash on me and cause me to lose work, or that Windows would decide it needed to update and automatically reboot on me. I never once (during the entire week) felt as if I could relax and just use the OS to do my work. Not once. This is my last day using Windows 11 As soon as I write this piece, I'm heading right back to my wooby -- Linux. I hope to never have to depend on Windows again because if this experience has taught me anything, it's that Linux is exponentially better than Windows in every conceivable way. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.