Windows 11 - I guess it's time to downgrade?

Yes, apparently I am already getting Windows 111

Support for Windows 10 is running out

I have put the Windows 11 "upgrade" on hold until the last possible moment (we still have until October before support runs out). Mainly since I didn't feel that it wouldn't give me anything that Windows 10 doesn't have. On the contrary, many have talked about how 11 is worse than its predecessor. Especially all of the AI spyware like "Recall". What could possibly go wrong with Microsoft taking a screenshot every few seconds of your device? Even if the files are stored locally, a hack and/or exploit is bound to happen. Screenshotting my passwords and other sensitive info doesn't seem like a good idea...

Sure, I could switch to Linux, but apparently many apps still don't work there. I guess it could make sense to install it anyway and use it for web browsing, coding etc. but not sure if I like the idea of needing to continually switch systems.

Hardware troubles

The upgrade itself isn't really that straight forward. I thought I just needed to format my drive and install a new version of Windows, but no. This time the hardware requirements are actually quite high. I first thought of just upgrading my CPU, but I quickly realized that would not work so easily. There are other features that are needed. Like TMP 2.0 and switching the hard disk to GPT mode and making sure UEFI is activated and enabling Secure Boot...

So I actually went through the trouble of getting all of these things activated (thanks Grok), only to realize that my mainboard was already quite old. Apparently I bought it 7 years ago and the chances for it to fail in the next 5 years is fairly high...

Now I am in the process of rebuilding my PC. New mainboard, CPU, RAM. I suppose the other components should still work. In a way I like this process of upgrading my ATX PC manually. I have done it numerous times before and it's always a good feeling building stuff and get it to run smoothly.

What do I even want?

When browsing through the different specifications of the components I wondered: what does this PC even need to do? I am not really too much into gaming anymore since I don't have the time or interest anymore. I guess games do get dull as one gets older. So getting any mid to high end equipment seems overkill. I noticed, however, that spending just a bit more gives a tremendous boost in terms of performance. Getting a good mainboard and a CPU on the lower end might be a good idea to be able to upgrade later on. Even the Ryzen 7s are quite strong compared to tech that was around 7 years ago.

Anyway, I think I am noticing that planning the upgrade and eventually building the system seems to be more fun than actually using it later on. Will I still play games? Maybe. I guess I still want to have the option. Will I get an RTX graphics card to leave the door open for running local LLMs? Maybe. I guess it could be a smart move considering how much data big tech is gathering.

How have you handled the "upgrade" (if you are unfortunate like me and still using Windows)?

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