• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Windows 11

Darat said:
Some of the later Samsung phones - last 2 years have "Your Phone" baked into them, it means I can run an android app in a window on my PC. It is running still on the phone but all input and output is in a window on the desktop.
Click to expand...

Nice. I already use AirDroid which allows my pc to get phone calls, texts and some notifications forwarded from my Motorola. And WhatsApp via the web but it would be nice to have more.
 
quadraginta said:
What I was doing was expanding a little on your categorical "No.", because the the idea that machines more than two or three years old will not be able to run Win11 seems to be, from my own experience and that of others I have read, more right than wrong.
Click to expand...

It depends. It seems that, currently, the rigid spec requirements are only enforced in the installer and once they're bypassed it runs fine on a variety of older hardware, Linus Tech Tips got it running on a Core 2 Duo from 2008.
Whether they'll relax the requirements for the retail 'release' is another matter and it's doubtful that any installer workarounds will last long in the wild.
 
Mongrel said:
It depends. It seems that, currently, the rigid spec requirements are only enforced in the installer and once they're bypassed it runs fine on a variety of older hardware, Linus Tech Tips got it running on a Core 2 Duo from 2008.
Whether they'll relax the requirements for the retail 'release' is another matter and it's doubtful that any installer workarounds will last long in the wild.
Click to expand...


Like I said. If you need a new machine and can wait a bit, it's probably best to wait until you can get one that ships with Win 11. That way you know it's compatible.

I guess I'll find out if my two year old laptop with TPM 2.0 and an AMD series MS says is included will upgrade whenever they get around to working it out themselves. The last go-round wasn't very promising.
 
quadraginta said:
Like I said. If you need a new machine and can wait a bit, it's probably best to wait until you can get one that ships with Win 11. That way you know it's compatible.
Click to expand...


I agree. I have an older laptop that had win 7 and has been upgraded through 8 to 10. The graphics card isn't supported in win 10 and I recently had to spend a few hours to get a game working on it again. You may never hit the wall between supported and "works anyway" but if you can it seems wise to avoid it.
 
Wudang said:
I agree. I have an older laptop that had win 7 and has been upgraded through 8 to 10. The graphics card isn't supported in win 10 and I recently had to spend a few hours to get a game working on it again. You may never hit the wall between supported and "works anyway" but if you can it seems wise to avoid it.
Click to expand...

My sister just gave me an old Windows 7 laptop. Great, because there are a couple old games I'd still like to play. Then she asked me to convert all her CDs to mp3 files. I figured I'd use this older one to save the wear and tear on my current one, and besides, it has a CD/DVD drive where my current one does not.

I had to go hunting but I found my old Roxio Creator 2011 Suite disc, installed it with no problem, and am happily converting away!
 
alfaniner said:
My sister just gave me an old Windows 7 laptop. Great, because there are a couple old games I'd still like to play. Then she asked me to convert all her CDs to mp3 files. I figured I'd use this older one to save the wear and tear on my current one, and besides, it has a CD/DVD drive where my current one does not.

I had to go hunting but I found my old Roxio Creator 2011 Suite disc, installed it with no problem, and am happily converting away!
Click to expand...


Try EAC. https://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
 
a_unique_person said:
I'm just glad that

I don't have to say "save early and save often" anymore. Windows is far more stable.

You don't have to reinstall Windows every year or so. It can do it's own housekeeping know.
Click to expand...
I'm just glad that Office 365 finally brought back a proper autosave feature (rather than the awful "autorecovery" that they had since version 2). It's also got "recover unsaved documents", which as a rational, skeptical IT Support professional I fully believe is literal magic.
 
For those wishing to check their PC compatibility, there is a free and open-source alternative available while the MS tool is down. It's called WhyNotWIn11 and can be found on Github here:

https://github.com/rcmaehl/WhyNotWin11

It's a standalone exe, no installation needed. As usual, check it with anti-malware software before using it.

I had to do a bit of digging around in my BIOS before I found the option to enable TPM which just leaves me with just my CPU not listed as compatible even though it's way above minimum spec.
 
With mine, it appears I haven't got the TPM (although I've not yet bothered to check the BIOS - see above about never actually shutting the computer down), and that my CPU is too old despite, like ohms, meeting the specs easily. Apparently it'll still be possible to install it with non-listed CPUs.

I understand wanting to not be weighed down by outdated technology, but my CPU was only launched 5-6 years ago, and can still easily handle anything I throw at it from huge Reaper projects with loads of big effects to multi-track 4K video editing (although, of course, the GPU helps there, too).

Hardware becoming outdated in 5 years? This is a desktop, not a smartphone. Although, I suppose, the lines between phones, tablets, and computers is blurring. My phone cost 2/3rds of what my computer did, and my tablet cost 4/3rds of what my computer did. But I have different uses for them and use them all in different ways.

Perhaps the awkwardness is still what started with Windows 8 - Microsoft is increasingly trying to blur the lines between different devices. That's why you need an online Microsoft account. That's why it seems to be moving more towards the SaaS model. That's why Teams is being integrated into the OS. That's why for the last several years Microsoft has been calling programmes "apps".
 
alfaniner said:
My sister just gave me an old Windows 7 laptop. Great, because there are a couple old games I'd still like to play. Then she asked me to convert all her CDs to mp3 files. I figured I'd use this older one to save the wear and tear on my current one, and besides, it has a CD/DVD drive where my current one does not.

I had to go hunting but I found my old Roxio Creator 2011 Suite disc, installed it with no problem, and am happily converting away!
Click to expand...

When I did an upgrade quite a few years ago, 5 or more I forgot to plug the power back into the drive. It's sat that way ever since. Never once needed it.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
With mine, it appears I haven't got the TPM (although I've not yet bothered to check the BIOS - see above about never actually shutting the computer down), and that my CPU is too old despite, like ohms, meeting the specs easily. Apparently it'll still be possible to install it with non-listed CPUs.

I understand wanting to not be weighed down by outdated technology, but my CPU was only launched 5-6 years ago, and can still easily handle anything I throw at it from huge Reaper projects with loads of big effects to multi-track 4K video editing (although, of course, the GPU helps there, too).

Hardware becoming outdated in 5 years? This is a desktop, not a smartphone. Although, I suppose, the lines between phones, tablets, and computers is blurring. My phone cost 2/3rds of what my computer did, and my tablet cost 4/3rds of what my computer did. But I have different uses for them and use them all in different ways.

Perhaps the awkwardness is still what started with Windows 8 - Microsoft is increasingly trying to blur the lines between different devices. That's why you need an online Microsoft account. That's why it seems to be moving more towards the SaaS model. That's why Teams is being integrated into the OS. That's why for the last several years Microsoft has been calling programmes "apps".
Click to expand...

That just shows your age! Like most old fogies I grumble at it but it has become ubiquitous - it's an example of evolution and "survival of the fittest" in language, just go with it.

ETA:PS - MS would have used "programs" ;) As did most British coders when referring to computer programs rather than TV programmes. :p
 
Last edited:
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
With mine, it appears I haven't got the TPM (although I've not yet bothered to check the BIOS - see above about never actually shutting the computer down), and that my CPU is too old despite, like ohms, meeting the specs easily. Apparently it'll still be possible to install it with non-listed CPUs.
Click to expand...

Most CPUs made from 2016 or so will have an on-chip implementation of TPM 2.0. Intel has integrated Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT) in its Gen 6 (Skylake) and later processors, while AMD uses something called PSP fTPM.

Unfortunately, many motherboard manufacturers disable these by default, but you may be able to enable them from the BIOS, assuming the manufacturer has enabled that option.

There's plenty of time for people to have a read through their motherboards manual to find the option before Win10 eventually goes EOL. I'd also recommend doing a backup before making changes to the BIOS, just in case.
 
arthwollipot said:
I'm just glad that Office 365 finally brought back a proper autosave feature (rather than the awful "autorecovery" that they had since version 2). It's also got "recover unsaved documents", which as a rational, skeptical IT Support professional I fully believe is literal magic.
Click to expand...

I usually turn autosave off on my files, particularly spreadsheets. I often need to do things like filter/sort a spreadsheet for a particular use, but don't want it saved in that configuration. And on shared documents, I often have to undo whatever filtering the previous user applied. After decades of doing the frequent CTRL-S action, it's just ingrained behavior now.

ohms said:
There's plenty of time for people to have a read through their motherboards manual to find the option before Win10 eventually goes EOL.
Click to expand...

Read through my what now?
 
Darat said:
That just shows your age! Like most old fogies I grumble at it but it has become ubiquitous - it's an example of evolution and "survival of the fittest" in language, just go with it.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm aware of that. I think there was a time when it was a prestige thing and no programme that considered itself "professional" would use the word, but these days even Adobe are calling Photoshop an "app".

But my point is that I don't think this evolution of language would have happened, had it not been for the blurring of the lines between portable devices like phones and tablets and more traditional computers like laptops and desktops.

Which is kind of funny, in a way, because my iPad is basically just a laptop with a detachable keyboard - it even specs slightly higher than the Macbook Air. The only thing that's preventing it being a laptop is the OS. A lot of people were disappointed in the upcoming iPadOS15 because it doesn't make any radical changes, or in any way push it more towards being a laptop. Presumably this is because Apple want to keep selling Macbook Airs.
 
ohms said:
Most CPUs made from 2016 or so will have an on-chip implementation of TPM 2.0. Intel has integrated Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT) in its Gen 6 (Skylake) and later processors, while AMD uses something called PSP fTPM.
Click to expand...

Then mine will. I've just got to actually go into the BIOS to check. I've got an update ready and waiting. Perhaps I'll check when I restart.

Then again, perhaps I wont. I'm not that bothered at the moment, and have no plans to upgrade in the near future.

I've also recently read this, which I don't know enough about to examine critically: https://www.grc.com/misc/truecrypt/TrueCrypt User Guide.pdf

Some encryption programs use TPM to prevent attacks. Will TrueCrypt use it too?

No. Those programs use TPM to protect against attacks that require the attacker to have administrator privileges, or physical access to the computer, and the attacker needs you to use the computer after such an access. However, if any of these conditions is met, it is actually impossible to secure the computer (see below) and, therefore, you must stop using it (instead of relying on TPM).

If the attacker has administrator privileges, he can, for example, reset the TPM, capture the content of RAM (containing master keys) or content of files stored on mounted TrueCrypt volumes (decrypted on the fly), which can then be sent to the attacker over the Internet or saved to an unencrypted local drive (from which the attacker might be able to read it later, when he gains physical access to the computer).

If the attacker can physically access the computer hardware (and you use it after such an access), he can, for example, attach a malicious component to it (such as a hardware keystroke logger) that will capture the password, the content of RAM (containing master keys) or content of files stored on mounted TrueCrypt volumes (decrypted on the fly), which can then be sent to the attacker over the Internet or saved to an unencrypted local drive (from which the attacker might be able to read it later, when he gains physical access to the computer again).

The only thing that TPM is almost guaranteed to provide is a false sense of security (even the name itself, “Trusted Platform Module”, is misleading and creates a false sense of security). As for real security, TPM is actually redundant (and implementing redundant features is usually a way to create so-called bloatware). Features like this are sometimes referred to as ‘security theater’ [6].
Click to expand...

Whether that's all true, and whether that means that they're useless in 100% of cases, and whether that remains true to this day, I can't say. But it is a counter-argument to Microsoft's insistence.
 
Darat said:
...snip....

In daily use not seen much difference, on the whole like the visual refresh and they seem to have done well with deciding which functions to promote and which to relegate to "show more options". The only thing I've found and it's probably more to do with how I choose to work compared to others but "open with" is now a menu deeper and I use that several times a day. It's mainly with graphical stuff, I use IrFranView for my quick image viewer for all graphic file types bar specific Adobe ones so when I want to open a JPG or PNG in PS I have to use the "open with" if I'm in file manager.


...snip...
Click to expand...

I've not felt so powerful since feeding back info on the xBox prototypes - MS have fixed my niggle, "Open with" is now a top level option along with "Open". Good to see they are reading this forum!
 
Darat said:
That just shows your age! Like most old fogies I grumble at it but it has become ubiquitous - it's an example of evolution and "survival of the fittest" in language, just go with it.

ETA:PS - MS would have used "programs" ;) As did most British coders when referring to computer programs rather than TV programmes. :p
Click to expand...


As fogies go I am among the oldsters, even though I didn't get my own personal PC at home until 1983.

But I clearly remember that programs intended for actual day-to-day work like word processors, spreadsheets, etc., were often referred to as "applications" or application programs" even back then. I suspect that is where the term "apps" for handhelds like phones and tablets originated. A nickname, of sorts.

It's almost a case of what goes around comes around.

I've never been bothered by if that much, if at all.
 
For a while I associated "apps" with being crippled versions of browser sites, made for the mobile device market.

On PCs, these days it doesn't seem terribly important to establish a difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom