w11 hate...can it be made better somehow ?!?

[smallhagrid]

I was given a dell inspiron 17 7000.
When new it had w10 home & they had 'upgraded' it to w11 home with all its nasty bloatware.

This NB has a very nicely lit KB & touchscreen & seems to work fine, BUT=>

I am the problem here as I cannot tolerate anything newer then w7 !!

My query has several parts:
- If I somehow miraculously over-write w11 with w7 will the touchscreen likely still work ??

(I found this thread & it is sadly quite discouraging=>

...reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/7gspjh/installing_windows_7_on_new_dell_computers/ )

- If I'm forced to keep w11 home, is there a way to remodel it to look & work like w7 or older in the so-called 'classic' style ??

 

- I thought maybe Flashboot Pro could transfer a full w7 into a VM, but have yet to find how it may be done  can someone here please educate me ??
(Hyper-v is unknown to me as yet, but I've used Vmware & Virtualbox...)

Thanks for any/all help !!
 

[smallhagrid]

Tried searching for a w7 skin/theme/etc. & got noplace with that idea.

I'm a full-time Linux user - meaning like 95% of all time, BUT=>

There are a few small, picky apps that need an actual windoze (rather than working under WINE).

I have a superb, tiny Asus netbook with said apps, but it is very low-powered such that my method for using it remotely crashes too much.

The w7 on that netbook is about perfect IMO, so my ultimate desire will be to have it usable (somehow) on the more powerful inspiron 17.

I don't want to burden my desktop Linux PC with a VM of that OS, but will if I *must*, sigh.

[lurch234]

9 minutes ago, smallhagrid said:

Tried searching for a w7 skin/theme/etc

What you need is StartAllBack.

 

Just use the search function. It's posted on the forum. It will let you do this:

 

https://www.startallback.com/

[smallhagrid]

Thanks Lurch234 !!

I've also been pointed at this util:

https://github.com/christitustech/winutil

Which I may also try...if it is shared 'cuz its 10 buck payware just to see it its any good.

 

Thanks Again.

Edited November 11, 2025 by smallhagrid

[smallhagrid]

It has come along well so far...

 

Still headed towards beating that OS into an even better shape, but my time has been dominated by car troubles & other stuff demanding my time & efforts for now.

 

This is definitely NOT forgotten !!

 

Thanks.