Windows 10 has little time left. We've been warning about this for a while now, and we'll continue to do so until the day it no longer receives support, and beyond. Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 11 whatever, and it's not the first time that recommends that you buy a new PCWhat he's saying now is to throw it away, but recycle it, that we have to be environmentalists—that doesn't sound hypocritical to me at all, note the sarcasm.
But we're going to insist that's not the case. There will be articles in which we'll urge you to switch to Linux, but this one won't focus on that. The first thing we're going to do is explain the best way to install Windows 11. on a computer that is not supported, and it's so simple that you can't tell the difference. But before we continue, a warning.
Microsoft's demands on Windows 11 and possible future problems
Windows 11 isn't much heavier than 10, but I have noticed a slight drop in performance when I've used it. It's something to keep in mind, but it's not that serious once the apps are open.
On the other hand, an unsupported team may face future problems, like one I experienced a few months ago where I couldn't update the operating system. It told me the service had ended, but I fixed it as I explained in this article.
Could there be more future problems? Yes, and they're all likely fixable, but keep in mind that installing Windows 11 on an unsupported computer can do strange things at literally any time.
With that out of the way, let's move on to the first alternative or solution to the end of Windows 10 support that Microsoft has planned for less than a month from now.
Install Windows 11 with Rufus
I'm not making this up. Just yesterday, a cousin told me he was going to take a cybersecurity course, and that in that course they were going to use Windows 11 with Linux distribution virtual machines. After some comments about how tacky I thought it was, we got down to business. He told me he had a license key for the Pro version, I went to Microsoft's website to download the ISO, and the end of the story is, I installed it.
I installed it on a laptop that had the Windows 7 sticker, so I figure it the team would be more than 10 years old and almost certainly couldn't stand it TPM 2.0There is a way to prevent Microsoft Windows 11 from checking if a computer supports Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, but it involves opening RegEdit during installation and modifying/creating new entries. It's not very complicated, but it's something I don't remember. If anyone wants to do it this way, I recommend searching on YouTube. But even better, use Rufus.
Simple process with Rufus
Rufus It's a tool for creating installation media. If we're using an ISO from a Debian-based distro or other supported ones, it can even create a persistent Live media. In the case of Microsoft Windows, we can leave a box checked that says not to check Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. That's the secret.
Creating the installation media with Rufus is a bit of a straight line. What you do have to do is choose BIOS or UEFI depending on what your computer uses. In the case of my cousin's laptop, I had to choose BIOS. Then, when I hit start, a screen appears with two checkboxes marked, which are worth leaving as is, one of which is the one that disables compatibility checks so the installation can proceed.
Continue using Microsoft Windows 10 in its LTSC version
I mention this as an option, but it's not what I would recommend either. Especially because of the price. Microsoft offers longer support for Windows 10 if you use a LTSC version, which is intended for businessesThe license is more expensive, and the system won't receive any new features, but it will receive security patches. I recommend contacting ChatGPT, Gemini, or Google directly if you want more information.
Incidentally, the fact that an operating system is no longer supported can also mean that developers are abandoning it. Little by little you will see how the apps stop working..
Use an ISO like Tiny11 under your responsability
There are community ISOs that are ready to improve the user experience. tiny11 is one of them, and offers a lighter, less cluttered experience bloatware, besides not requiring TPM 2.0 and such things. I'm not including any direct links - they can be found at archive.org —because I don't want to find out in the future that there's something controversial and be held responsible for something bad, but I can say that I tried it on my old Lenovo with an i3 and 4GB of RAM and it worked fine. I should be clear that I don't have any sensitive information on that computer, but it worked for me.
Come to Linux
And, as you might have guessed, the last option for those who don't like changes is coming to LinuxI'm not putting it last because it's bad, but out of respect for everyone's needs and feelings.
Microsoft systems are the best if we want something simple and compatible with everything, but we have to examine our usage and see if we really need that compatibility or not.
If we're using pirated Photoshop to add simple text to images, GIMP or Photopea will do. If we're just browsing, the most popular browsers are for Linux. What if we want to watch Netflix? There are browser extensions that allow viewing in 1080p, and Kodi does it too. In short, it's see if we can do everything we do in Linux, and make the jump.
And as for recommended distributions, that depends on the user. For using Windows applications, Zorin is perhaps the most notable, as it also has a familiar start menu. If you're planning to look up documentation, you might be interested in an official version of Ubuntu or Linux Mint. There are many options, and that computer Microsoft wanted you to recycle could continue to serve you for another decade or so.