Editing Windows (section)

=== Annoyances ===
* Closing the last window of an application closes the application. Most people are used to such behavior and probably hate OS X's decoupling of open windows vs running applications, but I certainly prefer the latter! Why must closing my Chrome window cancel my ongoing downloads? Just cause I want an app out of my face doesn't mean I want it to stop what it's working on! The Mac way is definitely more convenient.
* Constant reboots! - Far too many updates, software installation or uninstallations, etc require a reboot. On a Unix or Unix-like system the only time I need to reboot is for a kernel change or hardware maintenance. This makes Windows completely unsuitable for any environment where uptime is taken seriously.
* While on the topic of updates, with the exception of service packs (released very infrequently) bringing a fresh install completely up to date can never be done with simply one update procedure. Instead one must install updates, reboot, install more updates, reboot and install more updates. Example updating from the bundled IE to the current version and rebooting to find that you must now install updates to the recently updated IE update. This is brain damaged.
* Hopelessly disorganized file system makes properly maintaining a Windows installation an exercise in futility
* Keeping Windows running smoothly requires an entire collection of 3rd party software (antivirus, spyware removal, registry cleaners, etc, etc). An operating system so broken as to require the aforementioned software should in lieu of fixing said brokenness include such software by default.
* Changing IPv4 settings while an Ethernet interface physically has a connection causes Windows to hang for several minutes while it pretends the task given to it is in some way complicated. (At least in XP, haven't confirmed this on Vista)

* The inner workings of the system are completely obscured from the end user with no option to make them visible. System hangs on boot? Just keep guessing what the problem is. No verbose booting is possible.
* Cheap imitations of features found in other platforms. They tend to copy the ''eye candy'' attributes of a feature without duplicating the reason said feature was actually useful (OS X Panther's Exposé vs Vista's Flip3D is an excellent example).
* Horrid Control Panel layout with items nest several levels deep. Many items are extremely difficult to find without resorting to a search. A little bit of thought would have gone a long way in fixing this. Instead we have the paradigm of having more then one view in Control Panel, a ''retarded'' view and an ''even more retarded'' view.
* Multiple versions of the same software - I'm not even talking Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate here... I'm actually referring to multiple versions of the same edition (thus compounding the problem), think OEM, Retail and Upgrade. The problem with this is repairing a failed Windows machine requires that you have the exact version of the same edition that you need to reinstall. This is a nightmare! This would be less of an issue if people included their original installation media when they dropped their PC on your lap for repairs, but that '''never''' happens. '''Update:''' Hooray for sanity! The one thing Microsoft got right with Vista, only one installation media. The license key determines the edition that is installed. So now if you could only find someone, anyone, who was fortunate enough to actually get an actual Vista CD when they paid for it, you can borrow it and wipe your new machine of all its ''crapware'' and install a fresh copy of your operation system. '''Another Update:''' Whoops! The sanity was temporary, it seems MS was dumb enough to revert this decision with Windows 7 media. Fortunately there is a utility to remove ei.cfg and [http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/11/01/create-windows-7-universal-iso-with-all-editions-selection-on-install-with-ei-cfg-removal-utility/ create universal installation discs].
* Bloated drivers. Drivers should be a thin layer of software that abstracts the hardware from the operating systems APIs. Many Windows drivers are bloated monstrosities that include excessive and useless functionality. When drivers exceed 1 MB in size, something is very wrong.