Upgrade to Windows 11?

[Dweller_Benthos]

I think win 11 needs to simmer a bit more for me to upgrade, well I'd have to enable that security thing they are so hot about first, otherwise it won't update. So I'll leave it be for now.

[PZ]

I think win 11 needs to simmer a bit more for me to upgrade, well I'd have to enable that security thing they are so hot about first, otherwise it won't update. So I'll leave it be for now.

I've been wondering what that security thing is all about. W10 is now asking if I want to enable it. Problem is that when a big company wants you to do something, it is usually in THEIR best interest.

[mandru]

The best description of the TPM I've been able to find is here:

www.tomsguide.com/uk/news/what-is-a-tpm-and-heres-why-you-need-it-for-windows-11

I took my PC to the shop to get the TPM (trusted platform module) switched on and for the upgrade because I started receiving notices pretty much stating that Windows was going to roll over me one way or another whether I wanted it or not.

And if I doggedly refused the upgrade Win 10 would stop receiving support October 14 2025.  It seems now (at my age time flies by) those four years would zip by faster than I can justify my desire to purchase yet another new computer which would be running Win 11 (or maybe 12 or 13 by then) which I was trying to avoid in the first place.

We also took our whip crack fast Asus Republic of Gamers laptop ( bought 2 years ago) along to the shop at the same time and it doesn't even have the TPM.  It's a short lifer that can't be be upgraded to Win 11.

[PZ]

Thanks for that info and link mandru 

Funny thing with my Surface Pro is that the checker indicates it is not ready for the w11 update because of the i5 processor, yet when I check for the proper TPM, it is present and working fine. 

[LowPolyOWG]

Can always install WIndows 11 as a virtual machine If you have the hardware to do so

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah the TPM is built into my processor, just not turned on by default. It's an easy process to turn it on in the BIOS when the computer boots. There is also a hardware chip you can install in some boards that does the same thing, but for both of those, it has to be present in the first place. If you have an older PC (as Mandru found out is now considered two years to be "old") you're out of luck, windows 11 won't upgrade. I do understand if you are willing to do a completely clean install, not upgrade, there is a way to install win11 on a machine that does not have any type of TPM. I haven't looked into that, since it doesn't really apply to me. The fact that support for windows 10 will end in 2025 isn't really that big a deal, if you're still using a computer with that on it by then, it will still w0#k the same, just there won't be any more updates for it. So it may be vulnerable to a hack that surfaces at that time and there will be no fix for it, but by then hackers will have probably moved on and there won't be much worry. The machine will keep working just like it always has. I booted up my windows 98 laptop over the summer just so I could use it's floppy drive to copy some disks I found in my attic, runs fine.

As with any OS upgrade from Microsoft, I'm waiting a few months before I turn on the TPM and let it update to windows 11, just so any major bugs get shaken out of all the systems and more importantly drivers for peripherals, which is where the big issues can crop up. You find out all of a sudden that your printer no longer works because the manufacturer has decided it's not going to support it any more for new versions of windows. Usually Microsoft will have a generic driver that makes most things w0#k but there's always that one thing that falls through the cracks and gets turned into a fancy paperweight.

[PZ]

Interesting thing is that my Surface is old enough initially to have come with w8, yet it has TPM and it was turned on by default. I guess MS had this planned all along. 

We'll see how it goes - although I've not dived much into the comparison between w10 and w11, a cursory examination does not look like much.

[mandru]

PZ I'm wondering if the main hitch in bringing your surface tablet up to Win11 is only the fact that it has the i5 CPU.  My older Vaio Tap 20 inch tablet had an i5 CPU that  the shop that does my computer w0#k was able to swap the i5 up to a i7 which shared the same pin set. 

If you have a good trustworthy computer repair shop and there is a compatible i7 with your surface that might make the Win11 upgrade available.  Being older the replacement i7 for a job like this will have undergone significant devaluation knocking the cost of the i7 processor down significantly.  It might be worth checking out as it should cost less than buying a current surface tablet running Win11 and having your data migrated over from the old one.

Then again a new Surface tablet would be better, faster, and probably packing better memory space. 

[fragger]

I haven't been keeping much of an ear to the ground concerning the state of Windows, so I haven't even heard about Win 11 or any of the accompanying security stuff. It's all news to me, so it looks like I have a bit of studying to do. Thanks for bringing it up for discussion D_B and my fellow OWGers.

And thanks mandru for the TPM link

I don't plan on having my current machine for another four years anyway, but I intend to wring as much use as I can out of it as it's no slouch and does everything I want it to with aplomb. But it's already about four years old, so before 2025 comes around I will likely have, or be looking to get, a new machine. By that time, the bugs and issues which invariably come with a new OS version will (hopefully) have been shaken out.

Oh boy, the prospect of having to back up my voluminous content of graphics files and 3D models for a new OS, which I've been able to blissfully disregard for a few years, is doing its Sword of Damocles act again

[mandru]

You're very welcome fragger.

I remember watching the TB drives when they first came out and waiting until the prices dropped to $100 per TB .  Earlier this week I received a monthly flyer from Costco with a Seagate 8TB external backup drive for $119.99.  I'm interested to see how low the price for a TB will go.

[PZ]

PZ I'm wondering if the main hitch in bringing your surface tablet up to Win11 is only the fact that it has the i5 CPU.  My older Vaio Tap 20 inch tablet had an i5 CPU that  the shop that does my computer w0#k was able to swap the i5 up to a i7 which shared the same pin set. 

Thanks mandru; I'd not thought of that potential option. 

[PZ]

Well, I checked my old gaming pc and it's processor is too old, but I'm not surprised. I mostly use my surfaces these days and one of them has an i7, which I'll check some time today.

[PZ]

One nice thing that makes computing w0#k faster is when you share a computer with another person, and you have a camera, like in a laptop. My wife has a new Surface laptop that we share, and it is great to pick up the machine after she has been using it for the machine to automatically recognize my face and bring me to my last working point, all without a single click of intervention.

Yeah, I know... Microsoft is going to harvest information, but I'm not worried at all that they will have my face among 7 billion other people on this planet because I never do anything that is not legit. The benefit is worth much more than hiding my identity. The reality is that if the giants want to harvest information then there is not a thing people can do about it unless one wants to stay off the Internet.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I was thinking of upgrading my laptop, I'd just have to figure out if it has the security thing needed and if I can turn it on. If not, oh well, I guess not. But I would like to test it out on something I don't care about first. My laptop doesn't get used from one month to the next and then only when I'm traveling to get email and such, and since I don't foresee traveling any time soon until the covid scares calm down, I can fiddle with it as I please and not be out anything.

As for them gathering info on users, they for sure will do it if there's a scrap of money to be made and in that case there's a boat load of money to be made so for sure they are going to do it. Unless you feel like running Linux and not ever doing anything on the net, it's a lost cause really. It's not how it should be, but it is how it is.

[PZ]

This is a link to the MS w11 compatibility checking advice page

As for them gathering info on users, they for sure will do it if there's a scrap of money to be made and in that case there's a boat load of money to be made so for sure they are going to do it. Unless you feel like running Linux and not ever doing anything on the net, it's a lost cause really. It's not how it should be, but it is how it is.

Yeah, no one does anything without making money, at least from the corporate aspect. It formerly bothered me a bit but I now don't care because the benefit to me outweighs the annoyance. If it doesn't hurt me and I receive benefit I'm okay with them making money. After all, I do not want to give up the cool bells and whistles just to shoot my own foot by refusing to use them.

About the only things I do these days is take precautions to ensure as much as possible that my computer is not compromised by hackers.