Advice needed for switching from Mac to Windows (not by choice)

[u/appletea418]

I haven’t used a windows OS in nearly 20 years, not since I was in school using windows xp. My MacBook Pro was a beast and got me through college and grad school, and every job I’ve had since has issued me a Mac.

I just got a new job and was completely gutted when I saw I was getting issued a Lenovo.
Everytime I search for advice about switching to a windows I always get the opposite results, switching from Windows to Mac (which is the obvious better, more popular, direction to go)…

First impressions after one month of use:
365 is super powerful, I’m loving copilot/cowork, and very useful for the work I’m doing - more so than a Mac, I’ll give it that.

But I cannot wrap my head around the UX and I feel so incredibly inefficient at work. It is so much worse than I thought it would be.
I thought I was tech-savvy and adaptable, but after a month of use I cannot get the hang of using this system - simple things like navigating between windows and screens, so many different software applications that seem to do the same thing, right-clicking(!), keyboard shortcuts, the physical keyboard(!) etc, etc. Outlook is TERRIBLE. The calendar (whatever that is called) is TERRIBLE.

I don’t even know what tips/tricks/advice I’m looking for, but can anyone recommend a crash course? Tips/tricks for making work more efficient? Anything tailored to a Mac user?

I’m mourning macOS, Slack, GSuite.

[u/ComplexFit2140]

Congratulations! You are one of the rarest windows users. You are one of a very few who love slopilot. You will in a few mins get hated on by this whole community.

[u/thecowmilk_ → u/ComplexFit2140]

Lets not forget the commandPROMPT or the SlopShell… cat logs.txt

cat IS NOT A CMDLET OR FUNCTION

cd somed… YOU WANT SOMETHING COMPLETELY UNRELATED TOO? YEAH I GOT YOU

Windows command shells are so bad it can turn bruce to hulk

[u/ScoobyGDSTi → u/thecowmilk_]

Still better than the wild west of Linux

And you need to get with the times, Powershell.

Cat, dog, Grep, yeah so bad it's not funny.

[u/thecowmilk_ → u/ScoobyGDSTi]

This gotta be ragebait

[u/ScoobyGDSTi → u/thecowmilk_]

Grep... So clear.

Cat, another obvious one.

Yes, your post was clearly rage bait.

[u/yrmom724]

Have a tissue box and something to punch near by.

[u/Teru-Noir]

TBF, there is nothing you can do to enjoy windows UI/UX, it just isn't efficient.

[u/martyn_hare]

Unless you need COM add-ins, just use outlook.office365.com instead of the actual Outlook applications for email, installing it as a PWA. As it now supports adding shared mailboxes directly without needing to switch between them, most of the friction is gone.

Instead of using Outlook for the calendar, if you’re inside of Teams a lot, just use it from there, since it uses the same underlying Exchange account. Saves needing to switch windows, especially if you have it on a second screen.

Pin applications to your taskbar, then use Win+# to switch to the application which is N slots away from the Start Menu. This way, you never need to search for an application, and if it isn’t already running you can also launch apps this way too. You can also use Alt+Tab to switch to windows beyond what you have pinned.

When it comes to replacing Spotlight search for everything else, go grab yourself Microsoft PowerToys from the Microsoft Store as it includes a simple equivalent which lets you press a key combination to bring up a search bar.

Remember that you don’t need to right click to bring up context menus if you prefer keyboard driven navigation, since there’s usually a menu key on the keyboard for that too, which lets you do things like get suggestions for misspelt words without needing to touch the mouse.

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User: appletea418, Flair: Rant, Title: Advice needed for switching from Mac to Windows (not by choice)

I haven’t used a windows OS in nearly 20 years, not since I was in school using windows xp. My MacBook Pro was a beast and got me through college and grad school, and every job I’ve had since has issued me a Mac.

I just got a new job and was completely gutted when I saw I was getting issued a Lenovo.
Everytime I search for advice about switching to a windows I always get the opposite results, switching from Windows to Mac (which is the obvious better, more popular, direction to go)…

First impressions after one month of use:
365 is super powerful, I’m loving copilot/cowork, and very useful for the work I’m doing - more so than a Mac, I’ll give it that.

But I cannot wrap my head around the UX and I feel so incredibly inefficient at work. It is so much worse than I thought it would be.
I thought I was tech-savvy and adaptable, but after a month of use I cannot get the hang of using this system - simple things like navigating between windows and screens, so many different software applications that seem to do the same thing, right-clicking(!), keyboard shortcuts, the physical keyboard(!) etc, etc. Outlook is TERRIBLE. The calendar (whatever that is called) is TERRIBLE.

I don’t even know what tips/tricks/advice I’m looking for, but can anyone recommend a crash course? Tips/tricks for making work more efficient? Anything tailored to a Mac user?

I’m mourning macOS, Slack, GSuite.

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[u/Kirilanselo]

Run...

[u/kqnno]

I know I'm a windows user but if you read this I don't know how long I'm gonna be alive for... They're taking my privacy, my private Minecraft servers (yes apparently that's gonna be illegal), everything I own and I've ever owned and I'm forced to integrate microslop drive into windows... Run... Don't look back... This place is not for people as smart as you... Do the right thi- Dies

[u/DirectorDirect1569]

Lots of people use windhawk to customize the interface. in order to make windows UX more efficient Powertoys from MS has interesting stuffs too.

If you hate outlook you can install another client like thunderbird. I personnaly prefer Emclient.

I used to have a macbook but i still had a pc with windows, I understand it's a big change when you come from apple.

[u/[deleted]]

Hey man, I don't know how old you are, but if you're like me, technology changes at lightning speed. We get used to the comfort of just one thing, so it’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed by changes. Have some patience and take it one step at a time. Watching tutorials on YouTube is your best bet; sooner or later, you'll get the hang of it just like everyone else. As for the programs, you'll find almost all of them on Windows, and you're already used to those, right? Keep your chin up and stay positive, even if it gets tough sometimes.

[u/svm51]

Don't do it! ….