Or maybe I do…
I got a bit fed up with the complexities of my Hackintosh this morning, specifically the flaky network kexts I’m using to make an unsupported NIC and WIFI work – and after a quick trip to Microcenter for a few parts I set about installing Windows 11.
My rig as it appears now:
Windows 11 is, well … Windows 11. Everything you’ve heard is true – both good and bad.
I spent a good portion of the day disabling the operating system’s incredible desire to send everything you click on, look at, open, install, or type to Microsoft. Then another couple of hours were spent turning Edge back into a web-browser versus an advertising engine with rudimentary search functionality, and Outlook into a usable email application versus EmailOS.
Seriously. Everything in Windows is massively bloated, overcomplicated, and stuffed with features and pop-up tie-ins that I seriously doubt anyone asked for or needs.
But, after a solid five or six hours, I got the OS and assorted useful applications into a state where they are worth my time.
I even got all of my Apple specific things running, like iCloud cloud storage synchronization, my keychain linked up with Edge, Apple Music, and even my iPhone is connected to Windows and offers iMessage and calling from the desktop.
The final bit was getting the mouse wheel in Windows 11 to scroll the other way – like a Mac… I’ve been using Macs for so long that the default scroll direction in Windows irks me. And while there is no real facility in Windows to invert the mouse wheel scroll, this is only a minor setback.
By firing up PowerShell in admin mode, the following is possible:
$mode = Read-host "How do you like your mouse scroll (0 or 1)?"; Get-PnpDevice -Class Mouse -PresentOnly -Status OK | ForEach-Object { "$($_.Name): $($_.DeviceID)"; Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\$($_.DeviceID)\Device Parameters" -Name FlipFlopWheel -Value $mode; "+--- Value of FlipFlopWheel is set to " + (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\$($_.DeviceID)\Device Parameters").FlipFlopWheel + "`n" }0 is Windows default, 1 is Mac default.
This changes the registry to invert the mouse wheel, so now I’m less irked. 🙂
There are a few things I’m having to change though, like I’m dropping iMessage in favor of Discord. But in exchange I’m getting to play games like “Starfield” as soon as I finish Baldur’s Gate 3.
Speaking of which, things like Second Life and BG3 run 3-4x faster under Windows than macOS on the same hardware, just because Windows supports things other than Metal.
Now to enjoy a nice quiet weekend of video games. 😀
Listening to "After Dark" by Essenger