Windows 10 & 11: Things you should know

Digicom has been beta testing Windows 11 for quite a while now and while there were a few things we didn’t like, it’s not going to be a scary switch for those that feel at home with Windows 10. As we mentioned in a previous article, they have moved to a more “Mac-like” taskbar that is just icons instead of an icon and text box that labels the program. But otherwise, the updates are mostly in the settings areas which does make it easier to change settings than it was in Windows 10. It also seems to have faster load times and the sounds are more pleasant to alert you of things happening. So, let’s go over timelines and costs to upgrade.

First, not all computers CAN run Windows 11. If you would like to check if your PC will meet the new requirements, you can download the Microsoft PC Health Check, which will analyze if your computer has “the right stuff” to run Windows 11. If so, a free upgrade will be available to Windows 10 PCs for a limited time. While Windows 11 is now available for people who like to test the software before it’s officially released, the public release will be on October 5th, 2021.

While Windows 11 will be released on that day, it does not mean your eligible PC will get it that day. Microsoft estimates that upgrades will filter out to PCs going into 2022, so there may be a wait before your PC gets the option to upgrade.

If you don’t want to change, you can opt out of the Windows 11 upgrade and stick with Windows 10. For those users, you will continue to get upgrades on Windows 10 until October 14, 2025. After that, security updates will stop being made and the PC will become vulnerable to attacks like we’ve seen with Windows XP and are starting to see with Windows 7 after it saw its support end in January 2020. But that’s 4 years from now, so you’ve got time.

We hope this helped you understand what is to come and know how to plan for your home or office’s future PC needs. If you have additional questions or need help, please reach out to us at Digicom and we’ll be glad to help you with answers.