Windows 11 is coming. Are you ready? Or does it even matter? There has been a flurry of excitement and agony around the system requirements for Windows 11. Microsoft is insisting on a fairly recent version of a security hardware component called Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which can protect against potential malware and ransomware attacks and securely store encryption keys and passwords locally. Most Windows machines made in the past two years have 2.0 capable TPM, but older machines may not.
There are ways to find out whether your computer is Windows 11 ready, but you should know that Windows 10 will be supported by Microsoft through mid-October 2025. And if Windows 7 is any indication, Microsoft might add another year to that life. So, look at the age of what you have and don’t worry—you will probably be buying a new computer, with Windows 11 on it, by the time you need to have TPM 2.0. (If you want to check whether your PC will support Windows 11, there is a readiness checker called WhyNotWin11, which is more informative than Microsoft’s PC Health Check app.)
Stuck Phone
If your iPhone is stuck and not responding to any screen touch, Apple has ways for you to force a restart. As the directions vary by the type of iPhone you have, a good resource can be found at fairview- towncrier.com/links. These tips can also be used for iPads.
Transcript for Video Subtitles
If you have used subtitles for YouTube videos before, you can also download the transcript, which can be especially useful to avoid taking notes when viewing instructional videos. Open the YouTube video and click the three-dotted Menu button below the title, then choose the “Open transcript” option. Toggle off the timestamps with the triple-dot menu button in the upper right corner of the transcript window, then select and copy all the text in this new window into something like Word to save a copy. Unfortunately, the text will need to be cleaned up a bit for easier reading. But, at least you have a transcript.
Bad Network
Here is a WiFi warning for iPhones and iPads. Don’t join a network called %p%s%s%s%s%n. There is a bug in iOS that will break your WiFi connectivity. You can fix that WiFi problem by resetting your network settings in the Settings app. I am hoping this will be fixed by Apple soon. There may be other network names with weird characters that may create similar problems.
Windows 11 Features
Some of the features that will be coming in Windows 11 include the ability to run Android apps directly; estimated time for update installs; a simplified Start menu centered at the bottom of the screen; and—thank goodness—no more Internet Explorer.
Back Up, Don’t Pay Up
Paying ransomware demands does not guarantee successful data recovery, according to Sophos, a British security software and hardware company. They find that half of those who paid the ransom to get their decryption key could not decrypt one-third or more of their computers, and one out of 25 could not decrypt anything. So, it might be better to keep backups and store them off your network.