Thousands, if not millions of articles have been written about Windows 11, not least because its arrival came out of the blue and surprised practically everybody who owns a PC or writes about them. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big Windows fan, having also dabbled in macOS and Linux over the years, concluding that, for my needs anyway, Windows is by far the simplest and most user-friendly operating system available today. Until now.
Windows 11 CPU Compatibility
This one is a huge bugbear for Windows users and is so staggeringly cynical that it beggars belief, so let me give you an example. I’ve just finished building a new PC for my wife, whose AMD FX 4300 system was long overdue for an upgrade and since her work isn’t hardware intensive, I chose an Athlon 3000G with integrated Vega 3 graphics (IGPU). I also knew that Windows 10 would reach end-of-life status in October 2025, so I checked Microsoft’s own Windows 11 CPU compatibility list and was pleased to find that the Athlon 3000G was compatible.
Then, having installed and activated Windows 10, I then ran the ludicrously named Windows Health Check Test (sic), only to be informed that the CPU was NOT compatible with Windows 11, which is when I called bullshit.
It’s in Spanish, but you get the gist. A processor that was launched as recently as November 2019 is NOT compatible with Windows 11. Completely bonkers, which is why I formatted the drive and installed Windows 11 using a CPU bypass check registry hack (endorsed by Microsoft no less), simply because I could.
Got TPM?
Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 is another requirement for Windows 11 and as fellow author Jim Hillier points out in his article The Sinister Truth About TPM, it’s really just a smokescreen for Digital Rights Management (DRM) for control over what we can and cannot use our computers for. The cynicism is astounding and to say that most of us have lived with TPM-free PCs for decades without security breaches would not be an understatement. Naturally, the TPM requirement has spawned TPM scammers and other undesirables, not to mention the fact that on my secondary PC, Windows 11 refused to boot even with TPM 2.0 enabled.
Windows 11 Taskbar
Start is now in the center of the taskbar, a fact that caused me no great anxiety whatsoever because it can easily be moved to the left in Windows Settings and tweaked with third-party programs. What I find completely out of order is the inability to drag and drop programs to the taskbar, as we have been able to do for centuries. Added to which, you can no longer right-click on the Taskbar to invoke Task Manager, a feature I access several times a day. All it invokes now is Taskbar Settings and nothing else. Major fail.
Same with Windows Settings, which has now been hidden away by either a keyboard shortcut or somewhere near Start. I can’t be sure because I can’t remember where it’s hiding nowadays.
Too Many Steps For Most Things
Remember when right-clicking on a file or folder gave you numerous options? Well, now you have to clickety-click all over the place just to get to your final destination.
Microsoft The Bully Boy!
Edge is a very good browser, especially now that it’s Chromium-based, and boy, does Microsoft love to ram it down our throats? It’s extremely tiresome that we have to run through hoops just to make any other browser the default and even then the damn thing insists on running in the background until you tell it to get the hell out of here.
In Windows 10 you simply clicked on which default browser you wanted and that was it. Same with background apps, but now with Windows 11, you have to deselect each and every app (program) to run or never run. More bully boy tactics!
Back to fellow author, Jim Hillier again, who has just confirmed that Windows 11 Pro will require a Microsoft account and an Internet connection when installing the operating system. Fair enough in some respects because I need an account with Google to run my phone. However, I install Android once in a blue moon but install Windows several times a week for customers, so this is going to present a privacy, trust, and security issue in the future.
Conclusion
Windows 11 is not just a lick of paint over its predecessor, but a badly mismanaged and cynical attempt into bullying consumers who are only just recovering from pandemic authoritarianism, to replace their expensive computers when most of us can least afford to. Hardware vendors are of course licking their lips. The rest of us are licking our wounds and wondering what the heck is going on!
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It is a bunch of MS smelly BS!!!! W11 has no problem running on quite old hardware, I have
it running on two pc’s I built 15yrs ago and receiving and updating quite well. I did roll back
my main desktop pc to W10 and the main reason was because of that silly two step context
menu, plain stupid!!!! The only real issue I have, on unsupported hardware, is that although
Windows Security is running, the program just has a blank page. Have fun with W11!!!
I am interested in getting Win 11 but my HP desktop, 2019 issue, fails the test. Are you suggesting that I can still get Win 11? How would I do that? Will I lose all my data if I decide to install it? Can you point me to some websites that will answer these questions?
Thanks
Murray
I’ve penned another article on Win 11, this time showing exactly how to do just that.
It should be here any time.
W11 can be made to run on unsupported hardware, but not without issues.
I have W11 running on two very old machines. I will wait for Marc’s article
and see what he has to say.
Hated Windows 10. Liked XP.
So, I upgraded my two DELLs to Windows 11 and have the right TPM, etc. etc.
I like Windows 11 better than Windows 10 as much as I can’t stand MS’s bullying and B.S.
Linux is my other option as a USB bootable OS when I just want Linux & carry the USB everywhere I go if I need to use another machine to boot my own OS.
Why the MS Bullying? One answer for me- To generate new sales of new PCs with a giant kickback from the manufacturers. I don’t see anything in Windows 11 other than the fact they started this TPM B.S. that has anything new or better than Windows 10 other than their stories about security which could have been fixed in Windows 10 anyway. Oh, and to generate more Bloatware too.
So, to me, the bottom line is to generate new sales of hardware with a kickback to Microsoft. So, what’s next? You mentioned it as a rumor Windows 12. Doesn’t matter what it is. It’s the same old MS revenue generating overpriced replacement of hardware even if it isn’t needed..
GPrice, am curious why you “hated Windows 10.”
I’ve used every version of MS operating systems since DOS 6, and nothing comes close to Win 10 for me.
Sure, Win 95 was amazing, and 98, XP and 7 were great, but none of them approach 10 for ease of use.
I don’t see how you can hate Windows 10 and yet love Windows 11 because the latter is the former with a new lick of paint.
Not sure I’d use the word kickback. Microsoft receives a license fee from OEMs for PCs sold with Windows installed, as far as I know. That’s not a kickback, a word generally accepted as having murky connotations.
Do not see your logic!!! The difference between W11 and W10 can be very
annoying!!!
We have a few years before the deadline of Win10. If MS doesn’t capitulate and change these asinine demands. even though it’s more expensive for me, I’ll go and buy a MAC.
Amen to that!!!! Not only do I hate the bullying, but things we were always used to: i.e., getting fast access to the taskbar, using the right mouse for more options, and to me, the Control Panel are becoming more and more inacessible! Grrrr to Microsoft.
I agree that 11 is not ready for primetime. My issues were more a functional problem. In the past, there were few hiccups over a new OS version and your existing equipment. After all of the upgrades in Win 10 I really thought they had gotten totally over these issues, but in 11 nothing wanted to work the way it was made to. This included a Bisalisk X Mouse and a GLorious GMMK keyboard. You can’t get much more basic as both of these are supposed to be compatible with M$’s basic drivers. and even beyond that, there were issues that were intolerable. Also, I know this will sound nutty but I do believe that the issue I had with the Keyboard ended up burning something out in it, making the navigation cluster not work anymore. Probably a weakness in the board’s circuitry to begin with, but the stress of what happened (massive freaking out) surely stressed it to the max.
I haven’t liked an MS OS since XP. I am NOT a fan of MS at all. They have always been bullies and if one recalls way back in the early days, they bought up any competition and either put them out of business (usually) and or tried to take and inc. a portion. Now we are stuck with a few competitors …..I want to switch to LINUX for good but must make sure it is plug-and-play enough for me, a novice computer woman when it comes to getting out of jams. MS is becoming more Big Bro by the year.
When I first heard that Windows 11 was coming out I was looking forward to it but as I read more about it I decided I would not be upgrading any of my computers from Windows 10. Unless things change before Windows 10 support ends I won’t ever upgrade as long as I can keep Windows 10 going. I use my own hardware firewall and will continue to do that.
My Wife’s laptop upgraded to Windows 11. She didn’t know it had but was wondering why so much changed. I rolled it back to Windows 10 and stopped it from being able to update again automatically.
My main fear was about my elderly father’s laptop automatically updating to Windows 11 before I gained any experience with it myself. And yes it finally happened!!
I’ve read enough about it to know just what he was on about as soon as he called and started talking in desperation. So as usual, we started a remote session later that evening and I clicked and poked around a bit to find where to access everything and show him how to accomplish his typical routines. This of course has been followed by a few follow up calls as other changes pop up in his usage.
Meanwhile, I still haven’t seen an auto-upgrade nor been prompted to upgrade on my work laptop nor any of the computers the three of us use at my home.
Marc,
I agree with you, the interface to me is alien and the learning curve requires wait a minute, where, how and why.
Please take a look at all of my related posts on Jim Canfields article, Fri. 3/26/22. I posted the link using Rufus to install 11 on unsupported devices and it has worked perfect every time.
I have 11 running flawlessly on 3 unsupported really old Laptops (for experimental purposes). All 3 have gone through 4 Patch Tuesdays w/out a glitch. Time will tell if MS keeps supporting them or pulls the plug.
Can’t wait for your next promised article.
Kathleen, thank for your comments. I think your 3.26.22 reference must have meant 2.26? I don’t know what Rufus is, but I am darn interested in loading 11 just to see it. I thought I heard someone mention that it can be reversed. Please confirm. Also, I assume that like Mac OS installs, the data and apps are not impacted. Please help me find your comments regarding installing 11. Thanks
Murray
Rufus is a small program that creates a bootable USB pen drive for loading operating systems such as Windows installations.
It’s in my go-to toolbox for every days use and can be found here:
https://rufus.ie/en/
The article in question was 1/26/22, sorry about that. The video link I sent works perfect. The install he created has all the registry adjustments included.
Kathleen
Here we are:
https://davescomputertips.com/how-to-bypass-windows-11-compatibility-checks/
Thanks Marc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hflftPSlaMk
Video link of how to create the bootable drive.
Thanks Kathleen, don’t even think about the date change, most of the time I can’t remember my address. I just wanted to make sure I had it right. Thanks for the link, as it looks like it will be very helpful. BTW Marc filled me in on Rufus, so now I have two good sources to pursue.
Best regards
Marc, Thanks for the info. The link I enclosed from Britec has everything you need (all fixes), using Rufus to install. I will be using your method and make a comparison. I have only done clean installs and only for experimental purposes (so far so good). My goal is to find a really old borderline machine that will work. My XPS M1330 is the oldest I have it running on. It’s going to be interesting to see if Microsoft eventually pulls the plug on these installs.
Windows 11 is a horrible hunk of junk with NO Cortana, NO OneNote, NO Skype, NO Dynamic Taskbar, Touch Keyboards NO longer docks or undock, NO Shared Desktop Wallpaper, NO Timeline Feature, NO ActiveX IE Compatibility, NO 32 Bit Version.
Windows 10 RAM Requirements 1 GB for 32 bit or 2GB for 64 bit
Windows 11 RAM Requirements 4 GB 64 bit
And it is reported File Explorer in Windows 11 has a severe memory leak.
Most of our customers have chosen not to downgrade to Windows 11.
I just sent your article to directly to Satya Nadella…
I hate it because of what they have done to the taskbar. Why have it at all if one cannot put the apps and shortcuts they need on there? Then there’s the size problem. It doesn’t need to be so huge. When you adjust the size to the only other option, the date and time is out of view. This is the most limited and restricted desktop experience I can remember from Microsoft. They really have no idea what people like. And more likely don’t give a crap.