As the year draws to a close, and the deadline for the end of Windows 10 support (14 October 2025) approaches, my Windows 10 PC has started showing full-screen banners reminding me of this. So far, this has only happened occasionally. But it’s not the first time that Microsoft has nagged Windows 10 users. I expect the frequency of these reminders will only increase next year.
While my PC has the mandatory TPM chip that’s required for Windows security features, my Intel Core i7-7700K processor unfortunately just failed to make the cut by a year. BTW, Microsoft made an exception for its Surface Studio 2 laptop, which uses the same generation Intel chip. So I can’t help feeling that the Windows 11 CPU requirement is somewhat arbitrary here. But I’m still out of luck, even though my PC is working fine.
Of course, there are ways to circumvent Microsoft’s strict requirements, and get Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. But going by some online reports, major Windows 11 up…
