This is a short series on the various options available to deal with the end-of-support for Windows 10, focusing on the free option of upgrading to Windows 11.
Why you may want to?
Ahh, I remember the good old days when an Operating System upgrade required spending money on a new license. Now it is free, and everyone likes free, so why not?
If you are on a version prior to Windows 10 you need to update to that first, but in that case, your hardware is unlikely to meet requirements.
Currently if you have Windows 10, Microsoft pushed a PC Health Check app out to Windows 10 PCs in several updates, so search for PC Health Check via search in the taskbar to see if you have it, or download from https://aka.ms/GetPCHealthCheckApp (this is a direct link to the download).
Do you believe that your PC meets the requirements? Or if the PC Health Check indicates it does, you can upgrade Windows using Windows Update, unless your corporate policies prohibit it. You know the drill – the usual warnings about backing up data, etc. – but it’s usually a smooth experience, and Windows 11, being nearly four years old, is generally stable.
Why you may not want to, or even be able to
Leaving aside the various ways to avoid some of the hardware requirements (for example see this zdnet article) as these often involve Registry changes and will lose any support in future, there were a lot of PCs being sold when Windows 11 was released that do not meet the requirements. In particular the sections on System Firmware and TPM are the hardest to meet or correct and in a Commercial environment are not worth trying to avoid.
Most Windows 10 PCs will soon be 4+ years old. Consider if the planning and engineering time (and therefore cost) to upgrade is worth it for your customers if they are close to a budgeted hardware refresh cycle.
You could install a non-Windows Operating System. Linux has always been stable and secure and many distributions are easy to install and use, or for really low end hardware Chrome OS Flex might be an option. These are great for individual users but you always need to consider the applications you need to run and there is the issue of familiarity, user training and support to consider. In a commercial environment anything but Windows and Mac often fall into the “too hard basket”.
If hardware replacement turns out to be the right option for you, then Acer has a wide range of Commercial devices from “nice” to “really nice”. If you need any – email acer@bluechipit.co.nz for options. While you are at it, see if your customers also have old monitors as a new Acer screen (or screen), maybe a little bigger and possibly with better connectivity options, often enhances user satisfaction at a very reasonable cost.
