Pixel42
Schrödinger's cat
My Windows 10 laptop has been updated to Windows 11. Pretty sure I never consented, not deliberately anyway.
Avoiding Win 11 and staying with 10
- Thread starter Wudang
- Start date
ohms
Graduate Poster
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2005
- Messages
- 1,707
Both my Windows 10 machines have been enrolled in the free year of extended support updates. To qualify for free access you sign-in and sync your PC settings to the cloud, or pay $30 or 1,000 Microsoft reward points. Any one of those will work unless you are in the EEA where it is completely free.
You obvious didn't read section 931, paragraph 567, point 9 when you installed Windows 95...
Wudang
BOFH
It's also in the ReadMe file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\basement\locked\leopard\
novaphile
Quester of Doglets
By some absurd coincidence, I had my Zip drive out the other day, it still works, and the files on the discs appear to be still readable.
In preparation for going to uni, I bought a new IBM (clone) PC, a 386DX with 4!!! Mb of RAM, and a 100Mb hard drive.
The computer and monitor cost about $3000 and the printer (HP inkjet) $1200...
Some of my fellow students were amazed that I'd done this: "Are you rich?".
Fascinating when comparing the amount of processing power, memory, etc. bought today for a fraction of the price.
(I'm still glad that I made the investment at the time, I was always seeing queues of people outside the 'computer labs' with people waiting for access, so that they could do their work.)
Dabop
Master Poster
My first IBM 'clone' was a homebrew- literally consisting of a motherboard and PSU I bought from Sydney and posted up via Australia Post- screwed down in the bottom drawer of my old desk from my school days with woodscrews lol
No case, no nothing- but it ran, and thats all that counted...
A 386SX started off with 256Mb of ram (didnt have the $$$ for the maths co-processor or more ram- or a HDD- it ran the twin floppies, with the 'system disk' living in drive A....
And I thought it was HUGE in comparison to my first new computer- a Vic20 with 3kb of ram and a cassette drive for storage lol
No case, no nothing- but it ran, and thats all that counted...
A 386SX started off with 256Mb of ram (didnt have the $$$ for the maths co-processor or more ram- or a HDD- it ran the twin floppies, with the 'system disk' living in drive A....
And I thought it was HUGE in comparison to my first new computer- a Vic20 with 3kb of ram and a cassette drive for storage lol
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I just did my enrolment in Windows 10 Extended Security Updates. Very quick.
I do this and not get Windows 11 because my I haven't used my PC for months, if not over a year, other than to update it. It's probably about 10 years old, hence it's not even updatable to 11.
I'm going to see if I use it for anything in the next year before making any decisions about upgrading or ditching my PC.
Dabop
Master Poster
Depending on your needs- many if not most people can be better off ditching Windows rather than buying a new computer- 99% of people just do basic netsurfing/email/letter writing and similar- in which case there's really no need to spend a small fortune buying a new computer when using your existing one will do all those just fine by changing to something like Ubuntu or similar...
That way you can still use the older systems, still be safe with a supported current OS and not be locked into that 'upgrade/update/upgrade/update cycle....
(this computer is a rather elderly laptop over ten years old- its a youngster compared to the older one in the shed- it was originally an XP system lol- quite happily running the latest LTS Bionic Beaver (fully supported Ubuntu) and I an browsing on both Firefox and Chrome on both- I prefer Firefox, but Chrome works better on some older sites... )
Certainly dont just throw that system in the rubbish just because its not windows supported- if it runs (even just off the mains only) its a fully usable computer for someone....
I fired up the old Win8 computer on YT and ISF.
I had maybe 15 minutes of use on 8 up to yesterday. Last used was XP before that.
It's not too bad. The computer is a solid platform that doesn't overheat and only lags when AVG endlessly fights its demise by a million pop up windows.
It won't be updated as it will probably shut down the obsolete software package. I made that mistake once.
I had maybe 15 minutes of use on 8 up to yesterday. Last used was XP before that.
It's not too bad. The computer is a solid platform that doesn't overheat and only lags when AVG endlessly fights its demise by a million pop up windows.
It won't be updated as it will probably shut down the obsolete software package. I made that mistake once.
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I wouldn't ever throw it in the bin after wiping it. I'd take it to an e-waste recycling depot. I'd happily let them profit from the parts.
Dabop
Master Poster
Unless it is actually broken beyond repair- an old system like that can still be a quite useful (and safe to use online) system- WAAAAY too many are literally throwing out perfectly good 7/8/10 systems because of this BS from microsoft that it 'NEEDS' win11 but your machine wont run it- buy a new computer...
The sheer waste because of one companies pure greed is disgusting.....
Wudang
BOFH
There's a cool one near me that largely employs adults with learning disabilities and such. Nice quiet buzz to the place if that makes sense.
That's the same as the one here. I know a few of of them.
Helen
Implicitly explicit
Same here, they're incredibly helpful.
Just saw this yesterday: https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/29/legacy_updated_updated/
Apparently there's an open source package that can keep applying updates to legacy windows versions even when the native updater is disabled. Obviously there won't be any newer updates for these legacy systems, but it's better than nothing.
Apparently there's an open source package that can keep applying updates to legacy windows versions even when the native updater is disabled. Obviously there won't be any newer updates for these legacy systems, but it's better than nothing.
Wudang
BOFH
That looks worth checking out. Thanks.
Is it really worth messing with an old computer that works well enough as it is? My son can't use them as for his online gaming for half a dozen reasons in hardware and software incompatibility. I can for forums and YT yet.
My Samsung Tab2/7 is only good for playing mahjong anymore, but quite good at that vital task. It's in perfect condition.
I have retired all my old phones as useless except for the games on them. Hardware can't be updated to current needs. Software can't enter anything online anymore.
My Samsung Tab2/7 is only good for playing mahjong anymore, but quite good at that vital task. It's in perfect condition.
I have retired all my old phones as useless except for the games on them. Hardware can't be updated to current needs. Software can't enter anything online anymore.
Gulliver Foyle
Philosopher
I get that a lot any time I've a problem with windows update.
bruto
Penultimate Amazing
My win 10 desktop does occasional updates, and what happens there is that it stalls at a blue screen telling me not to shut off the computer. It will stay there forever, so finally I shut it off, and reboot, and the update finishes. My Win 11 laptop seems to be updating without issues.
plague311
Great minds think...
There's an update troubleshooting tool built-in to windows now. It doesn't always work, or do much at all, but sometimes it'll clear that up for you. Usually the service is stalling out or something like that, and the troubleshooter will square it away.