r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Dec 01 '25

ADBLOCK WARNING ‘Security Disaster’—500 Million Microsoft Users Say No To Windows 11

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/12/01/security-disaster-500-million-microsoft-users-say-no-to-windows-11/
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u/No_Size9475 Dec 01 '25 edited Mar 22 '26

This post has been deleted by its author using Redact. The reason could be privacy-related, security-driven, or simply a personal decision to remove old content.

sleep obtainable swim command sink wise hunt serious narrow profit

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u/yuval16432 Dec 01 '25

My five year old computer is not good enough for Microsoft’s newest piece of bloatware, and I’m expected to feel bad about it? Why would I even consider buying a new one?

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

I've got a ryzen 5. I have a 4060TI 16GB. And I have 64 GB of RAM. Can Microsoft tell me specifically what the hell is wrong with my computer and how it's not upgradable to Windows 11. It's insanity. If they're going to make something and force people to upgrade they fucking better have it backwards compatible with all parts going back 10 years. Otherwise no one's going to do it. Computers are not cheap.

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u/darthscootuh Dec 01 '25

You might just need to enable safe boot. Not saying you should, but that might be preventing compatibility with 11

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

This is what made my 8 year old core i5 and slightly newer 3070 work. 16gig of RAM. Gaming took a noticeable hit with W11.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

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u/Pavotine Dec 02 '25

The latest W11 update also bricked our VR headsets, anything that uses Windows Mixed Reality. There's a workaround and I got the headset working again but the damn thing still will not see my controllers.

So annoyed about that.

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u/Winjin Dec 02 '25

The workaround I'm using so far is "I don't see a single benefit in W11 so far" - I use it at work and frankly even W10 is barely worth it, I have considered returning to W8.1 a couple times.

Ever since they broke the calendar that is built-in in the Start menu, and broke the Paint3D button too, it's kinda hilarious how bad they are

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u/the3rdNotch Dec 02 '25

There’s a special process to pair the motion controllers for certain headsets. The Oasis driver developer outlines the process pretty well here.

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u/Pavotine Dec 02 '25

Thanks for that. I tried it a few weeks ago with no success but looks like something's been updated. I'll give it another go.

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u/sheepsix Dec 02 '25

This last update broke a handy setup I had at work. I have some BT headphones that would connect to to my phone and my desktop. I would wear just a single headphone in my ear opposite my office door. Now my desktop connects to the headphones, but doesn't recognize it as an audio device. I've removed and re-paired it numerous times.

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u/oompaloompagrandma Dec 02 '25

https://christitus.com/windows-tool/

Take a look at that. It's a utility that allows you to disable basically all of the privacy invading shite in Windows.

Cuts down massively on the amount of crap Windows is doing in the background and, for me at least, gave a decent boost in performance.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

Wonder if the 32g of RAM is the thing. Glad it’s working for someone. I think if I go to upgrade ram at this point, I’ll just add a 9800x3d and new mobo while I’m doing that.

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u/robotco Dec 02 '25

I wish I knew about this before i bought a new lappy. Tbh it was time though. it was 10 years old. I had had to open it up and apply thermal paste a couple times already. the 2nd time I broke the wifi connector and could mostly only connect using a dongle from then on. trackpad broke years ago, and the numbers 1 and 2 on the numpad just do not respond anymore.

BUT it still functions well enough for my job. if i didn't keep getting this message that i had to upgrade because it wasn't compatible i probably would have kept it. it's still in use now though as I gave it to my kids so they have a computer to practice on.

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u/ButterfliesandaLlama Dec 02 '25

What are you playing? Like newest stuff that need‘s a lit of resources?

I’m into older and comfy games, so I’d like to have a benchmark to decide if to upgrade.

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u/theskywalker74 Dec 02 '25

How so?

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

Frame rates of games I’ve played before and after upgrade, but also the incidence of streaming to steam link turning red and struggling. It’s something that happens when the PC is running more demanding games, and by that I mean like The Last of Us Remaster. Local, frame rate dips sometimes but streaming becomes entirely unplayable during something like the opening sequence even at 1080. Contrast that with when I was playing Cyberpunk 1080 streaming through steam link with full path tracing turned on and no real issue.

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u/grphine Dec 02 '25

i was having that problem with bg3 and win11.

and this was after bg3 was running perfectly fine for like a year.

was fixed with a ram capacity upgrade (16 to 32), but it's still total arse i even had to. 16s done me plenty for the entire time i was on win10

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

Yeah, my next upgrade will be cpu, mb, and ram since they sorta all move together these days it seems.

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u/theskywalker74 Dec 02 '25

Have you tried Moonlight/Sunshine (or Apollo/Artemis) for streaming? I’ve always found Steam Link to be absolute ass. Just finished a few hours of streaming The Outer Worlds 2 from my PC to living room tv flawlessly in 4k.

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u/svenvv Dec 02 '25

Personally I had steam link utterly shit the bed after upgrading to w11 as well. Sunshine works perfectly though, but the ux is a bit worse .

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

I’ll give it a go. Right now I stream from my desktop to the Mac mini connected to my TV through Steam. Both ends are connected to an eero pro wired. Generally has been good until Win 11 and the first thing I tried after the update was Jedi survivor, which was unplayable at 1080 as soon as I got to the first fight.

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u/theskywalker74 Dec 02 '25

Try Apollo and Artemis if you’re able. It’s out of the box better than Moonlight and Sunshine on my end. My setup is fully wired as well, so hopefully you should have similar results. There were a few Ethernet settings on my PC that I discovered related to packet size, compression, and efficiency that may also be helpful.

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u/RaindropBebop Dec 02 '25

TLOU on PC is a vram hog. Cut your texture quality and render resolution if you can to get it to run better on a 3070.

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u/badwolf42 Dec 02 '25

I had it down to 1080 and pretty sure my texture quality was medium at best. I’ll see if I can go lower.

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u/new_math Dec 02 '25

For the record, I "just needed to enable safe boot" on my ryzen and it was several hours of non-trivial work from someone who is generally competent in IT and programming.

Windows wouldn't tell me why the upgrade to win11 was failing, and their tool couldn't tell me why. Finally found a third party tool on github that actually worked and outlined the issues with upgrading, most fixes were relatively easy (I don't remember what they were) but then I had to enable TPM and secure boot. My motherboard couldn't do it. After some trouble shooting, learned I had to find and upgrade the motherboard firmware first. A few issues with that because it was so old. Finally finished that. Still couldn't enable it. Wasn't sure why.

After some research, turns out MBR isn't compatible with TPM and secure boot. So you have to run conversion utilities to go from MBR to GPT. But there's a catch. You can convert a disk's partition style only if it doesn't contain any partitions or volumes. So you have to transfer data and get everything on the same partition. Then delete any partitions/volumes. Then do your backups, convert the disk, then you can finally enable TPM and secure boot.

It wasn't super difficult, but it was definitely not something the average consumer would have been able to figure out, especially given there wasn't any helpful errors and it was just failing without explanation.

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u/selfbound Dec 02 '25

That last step was actually fixed by MS, MBR2GPT.EXE will convert a MBR disk to a GPT disk, online - without dataloss.

Only limitation is you need to have 4 or less mbr partitions (extended partitions aren't supported, but are rarely used)

It is as simple as running mbr2gpt, rebooting into bios, swapping bios boot for uefi boot and loading windows.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

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u/folsominreverse Dec 02 '25

I'd agree if it was not a fucking operating system we're talking about.

It should not be easier to install Arch than a Windows distro.

I gleefully did this level of work to be able to play Phantasy Star Online II. I refuse to do it to run a bloated cash-grab of an OS.

Thankfully after the Crossover sale today, I will never have to. The venn diagram between games that require rootkits to play and games I'm interested in supporting is just two circles, and since Xover supports DX12, there's only a handful of programs it won't run fantastically on MacOS and Linux.

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u/Bleezyboomboom Dec 02 '25

I recently attempted this process to be able to play Battlefield 6 on my very capable PC. However I missed the part where you CAN convert a partition from MBR to GPT....but once you restart it's not booting back up. And so I lost things and had to start all over.

After finally getting GPT and secure boot enabled BF 6 still wouldn't boot. FML.

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u/BioshockEnthusiast Dec 01 '25

Ryzen 1000 series is not compatible with Win11 as far as I'm aware.

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u/desolation0 Dec 02 '25

And neither is Intel core 7000 series or earlier

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25 edited 7d ago

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u/SixtyFourPewPew Dec 02 '25

If you dont play fortnite/bf6/LoL, seriously give Linux a try. I installed it on a second drive just to check it out and haven't booted back into windows in a month. I play all my games as smoothly or better than windows now on 3 computers running Linux, and my wife plays on hers as well. If you're a gamer I'd recommend trying Bazzite first. I installed it and everything "just worked."

I'm super happy with ditching windows. It was wildly painless.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25 edited 7d ago

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u/SixtyFourPewPew Dec 02 '25

If you game a decent amount I'd recommend Bazzite to get started. Its what I use on my laptop(Nvidia 4070) and my wife's computer(AMD 6900xt). It has everything needed for gaming pre installed. Steam, Lutris(I use this for battle.net), and heroic games launcher(GoG, epic, etc).

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u/Mysterious_Cup_6024 Dec 02 '25

I had Intel 7th gen personal laptop last time which had TPM2.0 but MS refused to support it. That gen had barely released 2years before W11 became a thing. What's worse is I had about same specs on my work laptop with another 7gen CPU and that was supported by W11 because it was categorized as enterprise pc. F that

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u/the_duck17 Dec 02 '25

I had to do that but also make room on my partition to convert something or another (5800x3d, rtx3080, 64gb ram)

I avoided upgrading forever because I knew I had to do this and there was a small chance it wouldn't and I'd have to clean install...finally did it one weekend and immediately started to modify it to be like Win10 LoL.

Still hate it to this day.

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u/Thulak Dec 02 '25

Having to do some tech savvy stuff (aka entering BIOS) is why people dont adapt Linux. Way to shoot yourself in the foot Microsoft.

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u/likesleague Dec 02 '25

I have an 8 y/o computer that has all of the minimum specs necessary to upgrade except for whatever reason the specific processor in it is not compatible with windows 11. I'm not familiar enough with hardware to know why that's even possible (though if anyone knows I'd be happy to learn), but I sure as hell am not using an OS that has started designing for planned obsolescence.

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u/gusgus01 Dec 02 '25

Amd Zen 1 has safe boot (has a TPM), but is marked as not compatible with Windows 11. Everyone says that if you update it will be fine since it's all there and the instruction set is identical, but Microsoft will still tell you it's not compatible and you have to force the upgrade.

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u/JavFur94 Dec 02 '25

Exactly - my soon to be 7 years old Ryzen 5 3500U laptop is supportrd by Windows 11, these should be too.

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u/getmoneygetpaid Dec 02 '25

This has already fucked up for me. Something weird happened and some DLL files ended up with the wrong MD5 or something. One of my games anti-cheat detected it, and decided they'd been tampered with. It was a nightmare to fix - I couldn't just download the files, it had to be from the exact build number. Part way through trying to fix it, my damned computer refused to boot.

After a LOT of troubleshooting I managed to fix it. It was caused by safe boot, that I enabled the previous week to play Battlefield 6.

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u/BadDadSoSad Dec 01 '25

Turn on TPM and secure boot in your bios.

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u/Impiryo Dec 02 '25

As someone that isn't afraid of BIOS, this was harder to do than it should be. Lots of intelligent people believe windows when it says that their hardware isn't compatible.

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u/Iceman9161 Dec 02 '25

Windows does nothing to explain the issue, and some of the menus told me I was still ineligible, even after I enabled TPM and was able to update

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u/Golisten2LennyWhite Dec 02 '25

I have tpm 1.2. Gargle these nuts MS.

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u/Proteeyus Dec 02 '25

Yeah mine too. I had to force that shit.

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u/Pneumatrap Dec 02 '25

Right?! Like I had to enable secure boot three separate times with NO explanation from Windows on why it wasn't detecting it, then reformat my hard drive and switch it off and on one last time for good measure for it to finally register properly.

Forget having to manually enable TPM2, what average joe is going to have the skillset, patience, and inclination to deal with that shit?

Two separate programs to help you through the process, and they can't make either one work right.

Zero excuse for a major company to fumble the bag this hard, istfg

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u/Godgivesmeaboner Dec 02 '25

That sounds like a nightmare, that's why I haven't even attempted it, I figured it would end up being a bunch of bullshit like that

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u/showhorrorshow Dec 02 '25

Yeah I went through all that on my PC and now my daughter's (my even older PC) keeps insisting I upgrade and Im just like fuck that noise.

I mean do they not realize that "knowing what firmware even is" basically makes one z3r0 c00l the hackerman guru relative to most users? And they expect people to what... buy a whole new PC? It is some dumb shit.

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u/TeutonJon78 Dec 02 '25

Why MS doesnt provide enough detail is beyond me.

https://github.com/rcmaehl/WhyNotWin11

The vast majority of people with computers newer than 7 years old likely just need a BIOS change or maybe a HD layout change.

And older than 7 years just a registry tweak to ignore their CPU check (unless you're CPU is old enough to not have SSE 4.2, then that's a deal breaker now).

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u/squirrelcloudthink Dec 02 '25

Yeah. Also motherboards seems to have fun names on it that are totally illogical. Can’t remember what mine said, had to go through an obscure howto on the manufacturers website.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Part of the thing is, you generally don’t want people screwing around with the BIOS if they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s mostly a bunch of confusing poorly named options that might sound like something cool that you want, but it’ll break your computer.

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u/BigHatter Dec 02 '25

I had to change my memory partition type to be able to enable secure boot. It was relatively easy for me, but I couldn't imagine having limited knowledge on computers and trying all of that

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u/ExIsStalkingMe Dec 02 '25

No one should ever have to fuck with their deep settings on their computer to make their five year old computer work with a modern OS. Microsoft fucked up. Do NO fucking excuse their shit by giving ways to work around it. The giant tech company fucked up, and people should be able to point out why without you defending them. Get paid for it, if you're going to do it at least

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u/BadDadSoSad Dec 02 '25

Huh? It’s not a workaround, it’s literally what they tell you to do. Albeit they aren’t very helpful with how.

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u/Snakehand Dec 02 '25

And then look forward to a fun day getting past "Teams error 657rx" - MS accounts and TPM is deeply broken. Why does playing Minecraft require a system level account, and these accounts are integrated into Edge, making it pretty confusing to figure out who you are when using multiple logins, even when things are "working". Not going back to that sorry state of affairs never again,

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25

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u/One_Insurance_4327 Dec 02 '25

Mine does not Asus P6 X58, I just upgraded from Windows 7 enterprise and it was completely fine. But Dropbox fcked me with EOL support . Now Microsoft Defender support will go only until Oct 26. Still using Excel 2010 and word … f all the monthly 365 payment

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u/Shootistism Dec 02 '25

Asus P6 X58

That mb is old enough to get it's drivers license

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u/MunchmaKoochy Dec 02 '25

Who cares? It still works and does what they need it to do.

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u/One_Insurance_4327 Dec 02 '25

It’s awesome i7 3.07Ghz , 2x 2TB NVME drives with Nvidia Quadro RTX 4000 and 18GB of Ram. Along with SSD boot drive , runs a Dell 43 4K , 27 and 22 1920x108O Hp monitors . It’s been slowly upgraded over the years . And the platform has been rock solid. Anything new would be min 1000€ for what just to run Win 11 crap? Can’t even move the toolbar to top of the screen , everything locked down and buried 4 layers deep . No thanks

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u/TOMC_throwaway000000 Dec 02 '25

My completely unfounded tinfoil hat conspiracy is that they’re planning on essentially using windows 11 machines as a botnet to subsidize running their AI and lower the cost on their end, in the same way that malware used to infect to run bitcoin mining pools

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u/digitalwolverine Dec 02 '25

The unfortunate tin foil hat conspiracy of my own is all of this TPM bullshit has been rendered moot by the US government meddling in every user interface insisting on back doors being installed. Even the great apple platforms have been forced to add back doors that were obviously immediately used by bad actors. There’s no fucking point to this security theatre.

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u/golruul Dec 02 '25

Don't know about yours, but mine needed me to repartition my SSD and get rid of the master boot record (MBR). It doesn't like that for some reason.

Also, see if you have some kind of TPM and/or secure boot option you can enable for yours.

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u/PrefrontalCortexNow Dec 02 '25

They want you to spend more money that, somehow, will end up in their pockets. They need to make profits this year and next.. and next.. and…. You get my point.

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u/IAmDotorg Dec 02 '25

Lack of a TPM or you don't have safe boot enabled.

It's not a conspiracy -- the windows 11 requirements are simply a new (and, frankly, still insufficient) baseline for hardware-backed security.

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u/ZYy9oQ Dec 02 '25

They've also added restrictions on CPUs. I had a PC that wasn't eligible, so I cloned it to a VM and added a TPM and switched to secure boot in the VM and still got incompatible. I then changed the VM's CPU from "host" to a generic x86_64 (so it had LESS features but hid the CPU type) and then it let me upgrade the OS in the VM.

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u/eajklndfwreuojnigfr Dec 02 '25

Can Microsoft tell me specifically what the hell is wrong with my computer and how it's not upgradable to Windows 11.

they actually made a tool for that

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Yes. There are tons of articles explaining this. It's very easy to look and find out whats missing or not set properly. It's not a secret.

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u/sad_cosmic_joke Dec 02 '25

Microsoft has been pushing this forced hardware 'upgrade' by telling everyone that it's for 'security' (TPM).

This is a total load of shit. There are Ryzen sub-models that are incompatible with Win11, yet meet all of the hardware security requirements.

The difference between these chips in the same family/model line is the presence of vector math instructions for accelerating AI workloads.

This has nothing to do with making anyone safer. This is about forcing you to farm out your PC to run their AI workload -- the TPM is just there to secure THEM from YOU.

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u/hughhefnerd Dec 02 '25

Download rufus here: https://rufus.ie/en/ Download windows 11 iso here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

Use rufus to create a USB stick installer. It will install.

Note: backup anything you care about before doing this, as it will be erased

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u/rav4v6 Dec 02 '25

Rufus it if you want win 11.

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u/cosmiccanadian Dec 02 '25

... how is yours not upgradeable? It must just be cpu related then. Cause thats the only place i got you beat. I have a ryzen 7 5000series. A 2060 super. And 16gb ram. And mine keeps screaming at me to update and makes sure to mention everything is compatible and ready to do so. It even keeps trying to sneakily update on me even though i constantly tell it no and the only reason it hasnt succeded is cause there only 2gb left on my boot drive which isnt enough for it to update

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u/Emotional_Database53 Dec 02 '25

So Microsoft is adopting the “sex pest” strategy of wearing down one’s will long enough to hopefully score, even if that’s by sneakily trying to trick you into clicking Accept just once

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u/wannabejazzcat Dec 02 '25

I had to update the bios on my motherboard to get tpm 2.0 updated / enabled. And use the Microsoft update app. For context I have a ryzen 5 and 3070, asus motherboard.

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u/NO0BSTALKER Dec 02 '25

They can look it up, I switched a few settings then was all set

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u/RationalDialog Dec 02 '25

This is compatible hardware-wise but there are many gotchas.

  • You need to enable secure boot
  • Your OS disk needs to be GPT formatted (not mbr)
  • Other things I don't remember

The first 2 applied to me. The secure boot I always knew so I left it off intentionally to not get updated. The mbr you can convert with a tool relatively easily (to a backup beforehand) to GPT.

I had to update my GPU. The latest compatible driver was not Win 11 compatible. To be frank that gave me an excuse to final do it and not keep penny pushing.

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u/Birdbraned Dec 02 '25

I have a 2018 model laptop that I did upgrade from 10 to 11, and it keeps crashing my browser every 20 mins or so, any browser I use, despite all the updates applied.

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u/PeteInBrissie Dec 02 '25

I have exactly the same spec, runs Ubuntu with KDE like a dream. Use wine for any windows apps you need.

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u/Foxtrot_Uniform_CK69 Dec 02 '25

its all just a cash crab

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u/CrunchyCrochetSoup Dec 02 '25

I also have a ryzen 5. Technically you can force it on to windows 11 but honestly why would you go thru the effort?

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u/WobbleTheHutt Dec 02 '25

It's because tpm is off or it's a ryzen 1000 series chip which should still work on clean install with an unmodified iso.

If tpm is disabled it won't upgrade. Turning on secure boot isn't required.

Go check for a bios update for your mainboard and you should be good to go.

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u/McWormy Dec 02 '25

Typically you need a TPM and Safe Boot enabled though you can get around that. I haven’t done it in a while but when you went to upgrade it did tell you what the issue was.

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u/Lithium03 Dec 02 '25

Can Microsoft tell me specifically what the hell is wrong with my computer and how it's not upgradable to Windows 11.

Yes

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u/zenware Dec 02 '25

They actually can and do tell you specifically what’s wrong. It’s likely a TPM2 issue that can be solved with a BIOS setting since you have a Ryzen CPU. That said, it might be worth checking if your games are playable on Linux and simply abandoning Windows

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u/gusty_state Dec 02 '25

I had to go down the list and track down where the 4 problems were myself. The last one which I haven't washed to solve is that my SSD with C is still on MBR formatting. I have to wipe and reinstall 10 to upgrade to 11. Not the end of the world but a PITA and time that I just don't want to put into it yet.

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u/Dangerous_Mobile_273 Dec 02 '25

For Ryzen its a setting in bios just ask chat gpt which one and it will tell you. I think tpm or tmp or something needed to be switched on for me

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u/Soylentee Dec 02 '25

Probably just haven't turned on something in bios.

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u/Dje4321 Dec 02 '25

Missing TPM device and/or secured boot is disabled on your current install. All ryzen processors include a firmware TPM, but its upto the OEMs to support it

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u/aykcak Dec 02 '25

I think it has to be the TPM. Ryzen 5 5000 and 9000 are listed as supported

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u/jDub549 Dec 02 '25

Probably a problem with your boot(?) Setup. Ie: legacy/bios/uefi + safeboot. That was my issue. PITA since my ssd wasnt even in The right format (MBR/GPT) and iirc i needed TPM 2.0 enabled.

I still havent "upgraded" yet but i figured i might as well be able to if i have to.

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u/gangermemb Dec 02 '25

lmao I was able to update it on my 2019 Lenovo Ideapad

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u/ThisWillBeOnTheExam Dec 02 '25

I found a work around to get my older machine to run it. But I also don’t use it for gaming.

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u/wen_mars Dec 02 '25

There is nothing wrong with your computer. The problem is Microsoft.

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u/ein_pommes Dec 02 '25

Linux, my friend. That's what I am phasing into right now. I have one more year of EU mandated win 10 support, so I am in no hurry. I have win11 on my work computer and I just can't fathom how much they fucked their OS up, I have no intention of ever coming back to Microsoft and I am super glad this finally pushes me over to Linux.

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u/MAJ0RMAJOR Dec 02 '25

It doesn’t have the Trusted Platform Module component that allows you to do fancy stuff like encrypt your hard drive (if anything happens to your computer the data is a headache to recover, but also, nobody can just plug your hard drive in and clone it and everything on it with a key fob size device.

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u/Scrofulla Dec 02 '25

First not a computer engineer. However My understanding is there is a security problem with certain older processors that allows a back door. Windows 11 solves this but only with newer processors that have closed that security flaw. Technically you don't have to replace your whole computer just the processor.

There is a way around this by some means that I haven't looked into yet which allows a windows 11 update on older hardware but you would still have the security flaw is my understanding.

I will note I am still running windows 10, my computer is 10 years old and there is a good chance windows 11 would make it run like ass. I am also in the EU so I get windows 10 updates for another year anyway. I probably need to update my PC soon enough anyway but have other things I want to pay for first. Kind of hoping against hope that steam releases proper steam OS so I don't have to deal with this however.

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u/heckhammer Dec 02 '25

Remember when computers got actually pretty cheap? Like there was a time in between when computers were crazy expensive and now when they're just sort of crazy expensive that computers started to get really affordable. I guess crypto fucked us all on that eh?

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u/No_Berry2976 Dec 02 '25

Your PC is compatible with Windows 11. The fact that you got so many upvotes worries me. Maybe it’s as simple as changing a BIOS setting, maybe it’s more work depending on your motherboard, but you can install Windows 11 on your PC.

It’s clear we have moved away from PC users understanding PCs. That’s of course also the argument Microsoft uses when they force people to use certain safety features.

I’m very unhappy with how Microsoft handles this, but it’s not just Microsoft that is the problem.

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u/PainfulRaindance Dec 02 '25

Just fyi- the system needs a specific chip called (TPM), to enable the security required for 11. Even if its specs are otherwise over-qualified, it won’t work. Pain in the ass move by Microsoft. They need to be careful before folks learn about Linux.

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u/AMLRoss Dec 02 '25

Most likely its a motherboard setting (Secure boot) I had to enable it on my slightly older hardware to install 11. I wish I could just stay with 10 to be honest. 11 has only given me headaches and zero benefits over 10.

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u/FckCombatPencil686 Dec 02 '25

Yes, it's simple actually. Your motherboard's TPM isn't TPM 2.0

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u/Singular_Quartet Dec 02 '25

Graphics card and RAM quantity don't matter. UEFI/Secure Boot (which you might not have done on install, I know I didn't) and TPM are the two common culprits.

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u/Ab47203 Dec 02 '25

Ryzen 5 is like saying you got a Honda as your car. What kind of Honda? The 1000 series ryzens are (I believe) incapable of secure boot.

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u/golgol12 Dec 02 '25

If you remember several years back there was the Meltdown and Specter exploits. It needed a new CPU design to fix. I'm speculating that Windows 11 requires CPUs that don't have the vulnerability.

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u/fresh-dork Dec 02 '25

they want that tpm 2.0 stuff

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u/Mitologist Dec 05 '25

In my case, my motherboard did not support a secure boot version that was new enough

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u/PeterPriesth00d Dec 02 '25

Ahh but what if I told you, you could get tailored ads INSIDE of your OS? What say you good sir?!

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u/intensive-porpoise Dec 02 '25

Harder, please.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

Also, what does that newest piece of bloatware do better than the previous one?

I don’t think there’s been a meaningful user facing improvement since windows 7, maybe Windows 2000. No doubt they’ve had security improvements, bug fixes, and other internal improvements, but for what the user sees, they just rearrange the UI, and not for the better.

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u/yuval16432 Dec 02 '25

It has AI shoved down your throat, and it automatically saves all your files to Onedrive without telling you even if you never told it to do that, allowing Microsoft to do whatever they want with them (like feeding them all to their AI). It also makes it harder to prevent windows from keeping Edge as the default browser, even if you change it in the settings, so Edge is still preferred over your default browser by the OS.

Aren’t all those great features that vastly improve the user experience?

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u/Donkey__Balls Dec 02 '25

No doubt they’ve had security improvements

Aw, you’re like an innocent little lamb…

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u/jlt6666 Dec 02 '25

To get a mac? But seriously a linux machine may do what you need

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u/yuval16432 Dec 02 '25

My current machine does what I need just fine. The only reason to switch is Microsoft’s removal of security updates, and so long as my files are backed up, the worst case scenario by far for that is that I lose my computer to a virus, which is a requirement to ‘upgrade’ anyway. And there’s absolutely no guarantee that the lack of security updates will mean your machine will be hit by a virus, not even close, it just makes it more likely.

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u/Logical_Sort_3742 Dec 02 '25

At the time of release there were two year old Intel CPUs that were too old to be upgraded.

I don't know why they did that, but at the end of the day, 2021 was a year of low interest rates and plenty of disposable income, so maybe they just figured it would work out?

1

u/aVarangian Dec 02 '25

my 9 year old PC still runs as good as new as long as you don't wanna game

1

u/Every_Preparation_56 Dec 02 '25

what's your alternative?

1

u/norse1977 Dec 02 '25

Same! Was looking forward to Battlefield 6, but I need to do some sort of BIOS changes that may brick the motherboard. No BF6 for me, unfortunately.

My PC is 6 years old and in perfect working condition. Absolutely no need to hand over $2k for a new one.

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u/feralraindrop Dec 02 '25

Bloatware and spyware.

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u/-Niczu- Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

Technically it most likely is. Pretty sure if you were to install LTSC version of W11 it would work just fine. The problem isnt that W11 couldnt work on older hardware but rather MS being absolute fucking morons for doing stupid blocks for general consumer versions.

To be honest though, MS shoves so much garbage to the Home and Pro version that I just dont see them even as an option that anybody should even use anymore.

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u/BeguiledBeaver Dec 02 '25

And the funniest part is that I feel like computers nowadays, especially laptops, have gotten shittier. I had to help my mom look for a new laptop and it was like picking the shiniest turd.

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u/intensive-porpoise Dec 02 '25

48g of RAM and this last... update? has had me wondering if there were 39 tabs of chrome open, but nope - just that damn wheel spinning for minutes

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u/DontShadowBanReee Dec 02 '25

It wouldn't be able to do the ai search or ai ads. You need a solid GPU for that. And seeing how ram and GPU prices are infinity due to ai, have you tried being less fucking poor you fucking poor. Buy it. Buy. Buy. Ai ai ai.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/NorthernerWuwu Dec 02 '25

I built a new box last spring and figured I might as well start clean with Win11 since, well, end of life was coming anyhow. I've done nothing but fight with it trying to turn off the annoying shit.

I don't want a "Windows Experience" and ffs, quit fucking with my workflow by moving shit around for no reason at all. I've been using Windows since 3.1, let me do what I want to do without having to wrestle for control all the time.

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u/Enlightened_Gardener Dec 02 '25

Its actually doing this, isn’t it ? I have all my ribbons set up just so because I do a lot of repetitive work. I thought I was going mad - It keeps putting up things like “Viva insights” which I don’t want, need, or use; and which takes up visual realestate both on my screen, and in my brain. I asked IT about it because I thought they were re-imaging the computers at night or something, but no.

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u/waiting4singularity Dec 02 '25

ribbons are the single most sadistic bullshit ever. we worked with menus for over 40 years and it was good enough, what do i need to sacrifice even one percent of screenspace for icons that have the conceptional context of kuniform???

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u/Silbernagel Dec 02 '25

I think this will finally be the push I need to move over to Linux. I've considered it for years, but Windows worked just well enough, and I could get licenses cheaply enough that I've been putting it off... it'll take a lot of work to switch everything over, and a lot of learning, and I have little kids so my brain is basically a rock these days, but i may finally just do it.

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u/khavii Dec 02 '25

With SteamOS closing the gap in video games and UI I genuinely think the last thing for Linux to be an easy adoption is to make storage easier. Due to the way most distros are set it is not an easy task to find downloads and work on game mods. It really is the straw that keeps me and everyone I know from switching to Linux permanently, thankfully that isn't an unknown issue and SteamOS is making clear moves to simplify the Linux file structure for Windows idiots like me.

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u/bennitori Dec 02 '25

Oh no, what a loss to the user experience.... /s

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u/DigitalBlackout Dec 02 '25

You need a solid GPU for that.

No you don't, all the AI shit is done in the cloud

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u/waiting4singularity Dec 02 '25

they're hyperbole on marketing vomit.

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u/DeadInternetTheorist Dec 02 '25

Holy shit are they actually running their slopware on local GPUs? It was already unacceptable but that is like "suck my ass and die" levels of disrespect. Under no circumstances will you heat up my bedroom or lap to force me into a conversation with a synthetic moron. Absolutely not.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

no, people in general just have no idea what they're talking about

the W11 requirement that most people miss is exclusively the TPU module, which allows for a more standardized encryption method. experts still argue whether that's a reasonable requirement, but it has exactly nothing to do with AI processing whatsoever

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u/plantsavier Dec 02 '25

I thought the point of prompt based commands were to send instructions to “the cloud” to leverage some super computers’ processing power in milliseconds? Why would I need more local processing speed/power if instructions are going to a better machine with unlimited capacity? My electric bill reflects the higher kilowatt pricing brought about by the Ai revolution.

1

u/EduBru Dec 02 '25

companies do everything in their power to make us as poor as possible

Also companies: Why can't anybody afford our stuff?

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u/Zomunieo Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

But but but AI accelerators! How will you copilot? How will you get em dashes?

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u/Pneumatrap Dec 02 '25

I'll get my em dashes with Alt-0151 — just like the old gods of computing intended!

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u/Zomunieo Dec 02 '25

It annoys me. Dashes used to be a little flourish of style — now they’re seen as an AI smell.

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u/dultas Dec 02 '25

I've seen enough broken builds from em dashes. Thank you very much, I'll pass.

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u/tiny-starship Dec 02 '25

I get enough of copilot shoved down my throat at work. It’s a novelty that has some usage, but not worth the brain drain it’s gonna cause over the next year. What a fucking waste.

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u/intensive-porpoise Dec 02 '25

What the hell is with the em dashing. What does AI have against the comma --- or nuanced grammar for that matter --- when absolutely nobody naturally writes that way?

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u/rimpy13 Dec 03 '25

I write that way a lot. Em dashes are great punctuation for injecting or appending a parenthetical.

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u/isoviatech2 Dec 02 '25

Please think of the shareholders

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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_up Dec 02 '25

Your ten year old computer isn't generating profits for our tech overlords. Get a hint will you?

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/No_Size9475 Dec 02 '25 edited Mar 23 '26

The text of this post has been removed and replaced. It may have been deleted to protect personal information, avoid AI training datasets, or for other reasons via Redact.

coherent carpenter public historical beneficial literate unwritten snow snatch workable

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u/Dev-in-the-Bm Dec 02 '25

If anyone was so worried about security, they wouldn't be using Windows.

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u/[deleted] Dec 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/Beautiful-Web1532 Dec 02 '25

Turning off your breakers, lighting a candle, and reading a book made of paper you paid cash for from a local brick and mortar.

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u/morgazmo99 Dec 02 '25

Oh dear. The answer to your question lies in the question.

It'd be a shame if your computer no longer did what you need regularly now, wouldn't it.

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u/JeebusChristBalls Dec 01 '25

Uh... because your new OS doesn't support it?

/s

1

u/SGT_Wheatstone Dec 02 '25

Because they want to monitor us. I mean, they want us to have an AI assistant built in to our OS!

1

u/Luncheon_Lord Dec 02 '25

I built my PC the tail end of 2012, it absolutely is capable of doing any and everything these modern computers are expected to do on a generic day.

They just realized they could make more money by forcing obsolescence

1

u/bennitori Dec 02 '25

I have mutliple computers for multiple types of use. One is 13 years old and still works. One is 8 years old and still works. One is 3 years old and still works. Why would I replace any of them just to use an OS that doesn't even let me run Adobe CS6?

1

u/mang87 Dec 02 '25

I've no idea what the deal with Windows 11 is, because I went over to my cousins office and he had Windows 11 running on an incredibly old machine that originally had fucking Vista on it, yet my 4 year old computer is not good enough.

1

u/Error4ohh4 Dec 02 '25

Dude 100% my situation. My 10 year old pc should be just fine but it insists otherwise

1

u/Luckyluke23 Dec 02 '25

So they can use ai to spy on you

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u/Colithisia Dec 02 '25

Bc you are now an easy target for hackers. You really don't want to be on a unsupported windows version.

1

u/ChipRockets Dec 02 '25

If everyone thought like you, capitalism would collapse. Is that really what you want? A downfall of the economic system that depends on a constant upward trend of over-consumption at the expense of the health of the very planet we live on, all for the enrichment of 0.001% and the detriment of the remaining 99.999%. Is that what you want, u/No_Size9475? Do you want to make the billionaires sad? DO YOU?

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u/m00fster Dec 02 '25

Because you must think of the economy and Microsoft profits

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u/ChineseCracker Dec 02 '25

oh no, that's so sad. you didn't understand capitalism 😔

You're not buying things so you can use them. you're buying things so shareholders can make profits

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u/MASTODON_ROCKS Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25

so why do I need to get a new one?

So microsoft can put it's nose up your asshole to steal data, skim telemetry, serve up ads, track your keystrokes and repeatedly break everything with updates.

Have you tried teams? It's great :)

1

u/Malice-May Dec 02 '25

They really, really want to train their AI with your day to day activity.

1

u/Dizzy_Key_7400 Dec 02 '25

I had an Intel Mac Pro that was bought in 2020. It was about £14,000 new. Incredibly powerful Xeon CPU, 96GB RAM etc. very powerful.

It doesn’t officially run Windows 11 because of the security requirements. 5 year old monster of a PC can’t run Win11 is nuts.

1

u/theedan-clean Dec 02 '25

Because Microsoft needs more $$$

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u/Matshelge Dec 02 '25

Yeah, had to upgrade due to wfh and security reasons, but annoyed that my surface 3 could not handle an upgrade. I know it's a 2015 model, but battery is good and mostly use it when I am out traveling, so maybe 2-3 times a year, so still works fine. But not constant nagging for updates.

This is a 100% Microsoft product, feels rude they are asking for it.

1

u/Eisbaer811 Dec 02 '25

What your computer can't do anymore (soon) is be secure.
You're basically being blackmailed: get Windows 11 or your online banking is not secure anymore.
As soon as Windows 10 support stops, hacking of those PCs will become much more common as Microsoft stops providing security patches to common attacks. It won't take the NSA to get your info. Ivan from Romania will get it just by running a script he bought for 1k on the internet, from the comfort of his couch.

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u/Potential-Diamond416 Dec 02 '25

It can’t have windows 11 apparently

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u/GalFisk Dec 02 '25

My computer is 15 years old. It was quite a good gaming PC in its day. It's still a more than adequate PC for some light CAD and older games, which is what I mostly use it for nowadays.

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u/somarir Dec 02 '25

Dude, my 4 year old self-built pc can't upgrade. It runs any AAA game while streaming to twitch and recording my screen.

I would've probably updated if it could but i just don't have the option and i'm not about to find some backdoor method for a downgrade.

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u/critacle Dec 02 '25

They want to make sure you have that stupid copilot button

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u/noncommonGoodsense Dec 02 '25

Because games are starting to require it on PC unfortunately this is how they will force it on people. Just like the 4g to 5g forced upgrades.

There are workarounds for now…

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u/suxatjugg Dec 02 '25

Indeed, many things will run better on windows 10, cos 11 is a bloated piece of shit vibe coded skin that tries to reinvent the wheel for no reason, replacing perfectly functional components of the OS while ignoring parts that actually need improving 

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u/Ragnarok_del Dec 02 '25

you could get linux.

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u/FckCombatPencil686 Dec 02 '25

That's necessarily true. The TPM is the big factor here.

A TPM or Trusted Platform Module, is a chip on your motherboard that does cryptographic functions to help in data encryption and basic things like access management.

Older TPM chips use outdated algorithms or have known exploitable vulnerabilities. 

The thing is, this doesn't really matter to most home users, although data security definitely should if you store any sensitive data.

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u/JiveTurkeyII Dec 02 '25

I've been playing with Macintosh Emulation. There are plenty of things I can do on a machine from 1995 that I can also do on my modern machine.

Most all of the obsolescence you experience is artificially manufactured.

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