Topic: Planning on replacing PC due to Windows 11?

[miraculon]

I have two HP Z400 workstations, which are quite capable of running Windows 10. They have Xeon cores and a good amount of memory. Unfortunately, the processor is not supported by Windows 11. My laptop and another mini Dell also will not support Win11.

I might be able to work around the Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 issues, but unless Microsoft changes something, there is no getting around the CPU issue.

Personally, I am somewhat ticked about having perfectly serviceable computers rendered "obsolete" due to their policy decision.

Anyone else facing this issue? I am debating whether to cave in and get new systems, pay the update fee or just forgetting about the "upgrade". My Dad's newer PC updated to Win 11 and I'm like "meh" about it.

Greg H.

[Garth Bock]

There needs to be a 4th option.....Are You Running Windows 11 On Your Non-compatible Computer ?

Using the RUFUS utility I installed 11 on my Dell Optiplexes and a Precision desktop and my DJ HP Laptop (at 70 I still rock). I was able to bypass the processor requirement even though I had TPM as well as eliminate the Microsoft account and use a local account. Then I use Powershell scripts to remove the bloatware and then reduce the telemetry. Yes I have heard that M$ is going use an update to shutdown these improper installations but they have dropped it. I also use a registry script to move the Copy/Paste function from More Options to the main Right Click menu. Oh and I turn off menu/animation/transparency to speed things up and I shift the start menu to the left. Yes it is a lot of work to fix their cludge of a system but I didn't have to throw away good working hardware that was borderline compatible. I wanted to get used to 11 because I have some customers with new computers (retirement side gig besides DJ'ing). One thing that PO'ed a lot of techs was when during covid/businesses closed/people out of work...some moron at M$ said that everyone would want to buy a new computer to get Windows 11. The world was sucking and we all are supposed to chuck good working hardware and Win10 and go buy a new computer. Yeah right.

[miraculon]

There needs to be a 4th option.....Are You Running Windows 11 On Your Non-compatible Computer ?

Using the RUFUS utility I installed 11 on my Dell Optiplexes and a Precision desktop and my DJ HP Laptop (at 70 I still rock). I was able to bypass the processor requirement even though I had TPM as well as eliminate the Microsoft account and use a local account. Then I use Powershell scripts to remove the bloatware and then reduce the telemetry. Yes I have heard that M$ is going use an update to shutdown these improper installations but they have dropped it. I also use a registry script to move the Copy/Paste function from More Options to the main Right Click menu. Oh and I turn off menu/animation/transparency to speed things up and I shift the start menu to the left. Yes it is a lot of work to fix their cludge of a system but I didn't have to throw away good working hardware that was borderline compatible. I wanted to get used to 11 because I have some customers with new computers (retirement side gig besides DJ'ing). One thing that PO'ed a lot of techs was when during covid/businesses closed/people out of work...some moron at M$ said that everyone would want to buy a new computer to get Windows 11. The world was sucking and we all are supposed to chuck good working hardware and Win10 and go buy a new computer. Yeah right.

I added your suggested option. Thanks for the input.

Greg H.

[DaleReid]

I have put a lot of time and hardware towards my most recent build which is now a few  years old.
I get this warning to  update, but even with a relatively new I7, I'm told it won't  be able to upgrade.

A friend has a similar set up and did a mother board BIOS upgrade and his then was 'eligible' for Win 11.  Again we are talking about machines only a couple of  years old so something with lots of memory and tweaked applications running on them hardly seems worth the bother to chase Win11.

My wife's machine is Win11 and I see nothing that is 'must have' with updates, this from a guy who used to update everything when new OS came out..

I realize there is tons of stuff running behind the scenes, mainly in the protection area, but with ZoneAlarm being  updated and being behind a firewall and NAT functionality, I don't worry as much as a bare computer plugged directly into a LAN connection.

I know there are many trying to do nefarious things with other's computers and one can never be too sure.  Look at the bugs in even Apple's famed systems, both phones computers.

But overall, as long as lightning or a flood doesn't take out my systems, I'll try staying with what is up and running and paid for. 
Dale

[Garth Bock]

Microsoft has slowly ramped up the propaganda over the years to urge/force/con users to upgrade. First it was nag pop-ups about upgrading (7 to 10 then 10 to 11), then it was the adverts about Win 10 support ending which was later truncated to "Windows 10 will end in 2025". I have already had the less technical friends ask about their computer shutting off (facepalm). What's sad is they have held up the increased security of TPM as the reason to toss your computer. Hackers have already shown that is defeatable. Don't worry though M$ will rush out another update to fix/break that. It seems as time has gone on that M$ has gone from nearly polished O/S's (98) to nearly half baked ones that have to be heavy updated after release. I Rufus'ed 2 of my 3 Dells just to play with 11 and if they want to send out an update "kill switch" then I will just reload with 10. As for my computer customers (side gig) I load 10 and tell them to wait for Win 12. I also install Malwarebytes Free and tell them to run scans once a week or so and to avoid installing Norton/MacAffee/free antivirus junk programs. Just wait...Win 11 is not going to last that long.

[R.Sidetrack]

If you have had enough Microsoft BS, an alternative is to switch to a Linux based  system.

In 2013 I did just that, and chose Ubuntu. While learning the ins & outs of linux is an ongoing experience, Ubuntu (and other flavors) are usable out-of-the box.    You likely will need to use some different applications, but for instance Libre Office will probably seem familiar.

Those Dells further up in this thread that MS said are not suitable for Windows 11 will run just great with Ubuntu (or other Linux variants). I'd suggest buying a 'spare' used computer to get started, rather than using your current 'main' computer.  But you can convert an existing Windows box to dual-boot if you wish.  MS throws up obstacles, but they can be overcome.

Buy a cheap system, or convert one of your older existing PC to Ubuntu to start weaning yourself away from Microsoft. For example, something like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186630176202
... would be very usable. 

I generally buy [used] Dell laptops with 32GB RAM and i7 CPUs and  Windows installed, not because I need Windows, but because there is a greater availability of used Windows systems.  I generally convert them to dual-boot, but end up rarely booting into Windows.

[Garth Bock]

Yes Linux can run on legacy hardware that M$ has locked out, however that seems to be the shotgun answer. Don't like Windows...just run Linux and it will fix everything. Not exactly. The better response is before ditching Windows entirely for Linux....you need to see if are there GOOD Linux apps that can replace your Windows programs (by GOOD I mean not open source but a company supported app. Yes I know there are good open source apps BUT their support can disappear). If you run specialty Windows only software, well then you need to make the best of it. Jumping on the Linux bandwagon may mean reinventing the wheel for you. Trying to find apps that have the same or better functionality can take time. Even operating Linux itself takes some getting used to (unless you have Apple experience). On the weather computer side there are weather programs that run in Linux such as Weather Display, WeeWX, and Cumulus MX. However, some of us run Windows only versions of weather programs (VVPro, Weather Solutions, Weather Tracker, etc.). There are no equivalent apps in Linux. Also don't throw out that WINE can run Windows programs....yes and no, kinda sorta. Some basic Windows programs will run in WINE but I have tried to get some of my weather programs to run in WINE with no real success and I am not dumping everything just to run Weather Display in Linux. So unless you are just reading the news, surfing the net, doing email and Fakebook, well then switching to Linux is easy, but for the rest of us....well we have chosen that road. Until there are 1 for 1 app replacements that are functionally the same to limit the switchover shock, jumping immediately to Linux is not the answer. There are a lot of registry hacks and how to's that have tamed Windows 11 that are easy for the experience Windows user.

[broadstairs]

I made the move to Linux some years ago and have never had any issues with using open source programs which could not get fixed just like happens with commercial software. I also never found I missed any software that I used with Windows that could not be done with open source. OK so I don't run a business but that does not mean I would not be happy doing so if I wanted with Linux. Ignoring open source software in my view is very blinkered, it can be and often is as good as and in some cases better than commercial I've found.

Stuart

[SnowHiker]

I've been using Linux exclusively for about six years now (MX Linux).

There may be a learning curve, but I'm not so sure there are many people who would be willing to do registry hacks and such to keep Windows running, yet who wouldn't be able to adapt to Linux fairly easily.

There may be people and organizations that are locked into Windows, but I believe Linux is more than adequate for many people, including even many non-profits or small businesses.  I'd even predict that many open source software products will be around longer than many commercial software. I'll even go out on a limb and predict that GnuCash will be around longer than Microsoft Money, for instance.    As I understand, even newer versions of MS Word don't read older MS Word formats as well as LibreOffice does, though I can't verify personally as I have no need for MS Word.

I think it's too bad when people and organizations allow themselves to be locked into products like Microsoft and believe they have no other options.

[SnowHiker]

I made the move to Linux some years ago and have never had any issues with using open source programs which could not get fixed just like happens with commercial software. I also never found I missed any software that I used with Windows that could not be done with open source. OK so I don't run a business but that does not mean I would not be happy doing so if I wanted with Linux. Ignoring open source software in my view is very blinkered, it can be and often is as good as and in some cases better than commercial I've found.

Stuart

It did help my switch to Linux that, even with Windows, I preferred free open source cross-platform software to proprietary commercial software, so for the most part I'm still using the same programs. WeeWX being a notable exception, though I guess I could have used Cumulus MX on MX Linux (no relation ) and Windows.

Open source can have advantages.  For instance, you don't get locked into a proprietary format with forced upgrades, that later may become subscriptions or cloud based when I don't want my data in the "cloud".  Like, back to financial software, along with MS Money which MS dropped leaving users looking for alternatives, QuickBooks is an example of where you have to keep paying for updates with no worthwhile new features if you want to continue to access your data.

Even if support was to end for a particular open source software, I believe there are generally ways to access and convert your data which you may not have with software that uses proprietary formats.

[miraculon]

In addition the Windows boxes, I have a Linux (SUSE) machine,  a mini PC running an old SUSE distribution for FTP and several Raspberry Pi units.

I still need to be able to run Windows for things like GRLevelX, GREarth, AnkerMake, etc., so I can't ditch it entirely.

I am reluctant to get another PC just for WIndows 11, not just due the the expense, but the pain of migrating everything over to the new machine.

I'm going to vote "not changing" for now until it becomes absolutely necessary. (like a hardware failure)

Greg H.

[92merc]

I had a Dell Optiplex micro for quite awhile.  It was an old 3020 model, just an i3.  When Windows 10 came out, I got a good deal on a one year old Dell Precision 3240 model PC.  While not a micro, it is just big enough to handle a low profile IO card if I needed it.  Which I did try different things such as USB cards and SATA cards.

But after I added IPTimelapse to my system, that is taking some 23k pictures a day.  I was concerned about excessive wear on the SSD's I had in the drive and wanted spinner drives to handle that.  I tried various external USB, SATA drive configurations.  None of those were reliable.

So I built my own PC, using an old case.  I was able to keep the costs to about $500.  i5, dual mirrored SSD's, dual SATA spinner drives mirrored that I already had.  It's been rock solid since.

One other thing I did is I bought my Windows 11 license from WhoKeys.  It was only something like $25.  But it's legit as long as I keep it on that same hardware.

I had previously replaced my 8 year old desktop I use for my Office products, website maintenance, Unreal 2004 game.  Nothing special.  But I built that one also and it's been working for almost a year perfectly.  So I used those same pieces to build the weather computer as I felt it would be just as reliable.  I just didn't need a video card and could use an i5 processor to keep it cheaper.

For me, it's just a cost of my hobby.  Yeah it sucks I've replaced 2 PC's in about a year.  But I'll be good for the next 6-8 years again hopefully.  Keeping the OS up to date is just another part of that.

And I work in IT for the ND state government.  Imaging PC's and dealing with software is just a part of my daily life.  So I can't avoid technology, it's my job.  This is just another niche that I've learned many things from.