I suspect my CMOS battery getting weak...
Don't you fret. Microsoft is on the cusp of solving that limited battery life problem very soon.
While simultaneously making customer dissatisfaction a thing of the past.
Posted on 10/18/2025 3:53:53 PM PDT by Openurmind
Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10, all but forcing users to either upgrade or pay more money to keep getting essential security updates for the OS they already own. No matter that its replacement, Windows 11, can’t be run on nearly half a billion machines, meaning it’ll create mountains of e-waste as those old, perfectly usable PCs get thrown out for new ones.
If possible, things are getting even worse. This week, Microsoft is launching a suite of artificial intelligence features that basically turns existing Windows 11 systems into full-blown “AI PCs” which are controlled by Copilot, the company’s AI assistant. This isn’t us being uncharitable: it’s literally how a Microsoft exec is describing the update.
“We think we’re on the cusp of the next evolution, where AI happens not just in that chatbot and gets naturally integrated into the hundreds of millions of experiences that people use every day,” Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, told The Verge in a briefing. “The vision that we have is: let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI, and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC.”
Pretty sure I screwed around with UEFI/bios to get into my computer but once you have access it is easy to get the key even if you can’t get into Microsoft recovery account
I suspect my CMOS battery getting weak in my all in one might have triggered but I have no idea. I had never even heard of this key .
The five computers we have are all on W7, one laptop is on W10 Pro which is okay.
Yeah, but those are only the lightweights, and they deserve to have sand kicked in their face.
Was that the “Secure Boot” key?
I run Win 7 on most machines, Mint and Win 10 on a machine I’m mandated to have Win 10 on. Was looking forward to end of support for 10 so the updates would cease. I really dislike Windows.
I use my Mac mostly for Final Cut which I sporadically do now.
Don't you fret. Microsoft is on the cusp of solving that limited battery life problem very soon.
While simultaneously making customer dissatisfaction a thing of the past.
I recently tried a XFCE Linux Mint version hoping it would be more efficient with battery runtime than Windows 10, but it seemed like it only got 6-7 hours compared to 8-9 of Windows 10. Any settings I should switch to optimize battery runtime? The first thing I usually do is keep brightness at minimum, set the screen to turn off if inactive for 1 minute or 2, turn off hard drive after 5 minutes of inactivity, all settings to maximize battery life and minimize performance, I have most everything disabled within startup so there are less unneeded background processes running wasting battery life. Anything else I can try? What is the other version of Linux that will optimize battery life? I tried Debian but it seemed so unlike Linux Mint I gave up after a few hours. It was claimed to be one of the most efficient version of Linux but it seemed to drop 1^ of battery life every 10 minutes.
Microsoft is forcing people into Linux and I support the transition. I’ll be going Linux next week as I figure out what OS works with most of the Windows software I still have to use.
Did you have any problems installing Fedora 43? I couldn’t get the install to work as it would give me an error and it seems like it was a known problem for years. I tried installing other things it needed as it was a DLL issue that I never resolved so I gave up.
I couldn’t get rufus to work for some reason.
Windows 11 is privacy nightmare. They are snap shotting everything. They are also forcing people to use a Microsoft account in order to use windows. That is only part of the way that system is going monitor and report your every move. The only winning move is not to use it.
I did recently buy a Dell Latitude laptop with Windows 11 (just in case) and it is annoying forcing you to link it to a Microsoft account. I found a work around where you can disable it, but after an update it forced me to use my Microsoft account. MFers.
Not just their mailboxes. Badger the sales people of Windows-only companies. "I would buy your product it if was available for Linux." Hit them in the pocketbook and the sales figures.
I know I messed around with that and maybe tpm. I stupidly didn’t take a video of what I was doing . I was completely frazzled because everywhere I looked said too bad ...your computer is toast.
I am going to try unlocking my Microsoft account with their 30 day security freeze thing. I don’t have access to the phone number listed as the verification. If that works then I can verify I have the right bitlocker code I will go back and try to change what I messed around with
I wanted to post this so clueless people like me better safely get the recovery key before you need it
Good points
Upstairs PC on Windows 7 and downstairs on 10 . Both work for me for what I use the PCs for which is all basic stuff . Have been living without updates for Windows 7 and can do the same with Windows 10 .
Blighters just killed my wordpad.exe, too. I put it back but that was highly annoying.
I’ve been meaning to pick up a mini pc with Linux, but too busy lately.
I still have every computer I ever had, starting with a Win98 when I was big enough to see over the top of the desk. Always preferred Windows. When it gets on my nerves I go and sit with a Mac for a while.
People with more tech in their heads, keep telling me to try Linux. I will for sure, if this AI crappe keeps up. :(
>> “The vision that we have is: let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI, and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC.”
How about “Nah. Let’s scrap Windows and move to Linux.”
>> Microsoft is making Windows 10 users walk the plank
Extended support until 10/13/26. I just signed up all four of our Win10 machines. Painless and it was free, for us anyway.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.