Ok, so the single most irritating thing about the Windows experience for me is..
Actually, no, the single most irritating thing about the Windows experience is that in 2006, some million years after the CD-ROM drive was invented, putting a new disc in will still lock up the OS whilst the drive spins up (why? why?).
The SECOND most irritating aspect of the Windows experience for me is as follows:
Every application, regardless of vendor, where multiple paste options are present, defaults to the most complex option for any given scenario. Pressing Ctrl-V no longer produces the predictable results it used to in the nineties. Nowadays, pressing Ctrl-V invariably results in some misexecuted bodge of a paste into Rich Text (Word, Notes) or HTML (Powerpoint) when I all want the damn thing to do is paste as plain text.
I've NEVER, EVER (as I recall) wanted to paste in anything other than plain text. I want to pick stuff up from point a, paste it to point b, and then format it (or have it assume the formatting of the destination, not the source).
Instead, the application tries to prove how clever it is (which it invariably isn't). All the options I've tried (including turning "Smart Cut and Paste" off, whatever that is, in Office) don't seem to make the slightest bit of difference.
Hence every paste includes a trip to the inappropriately named "Paste Special" menu. It's not Paste Special, it's Paste flippin' Ordinary I want!
The first person who comes up with a way of universally setting all Windows applications to default to a plain text paste will win my admiration and eternal gratitude.
