Windows 10/11 Download

[HipKat]

Reading through this thread makes me glad that I'm a Linux user.

Linux updates pretty often, too, depending on your distro

 

[harshness]

Linux updates pretty often, too, depending on your distro

More importantly, they provide updates as they become available so you don't have to wait for the next cycle.

Linux updates tend to happen pretty quickly, and unless you're getting a kernel update, you don't typically don't have to reboot.

While Microsoft promised that update reboots weren't going to be necessary more than a decade ago, they broke that promise almost immediately.

 

["MysteryMan"]

20025-10 .NET 8.0.21 Security Update for x64 Client (KB5068331) and 2025-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows 11 Version 25H2 for x64 (KB5066128) and 2025-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 25H2 Build: 25200.6899 for x64-based Systems (KB5066835) have been released. Moderate time needed for those wishing perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new major features introduced.

 

[TRG]

 

[primestar31]

I'm on the extended security updates program, so I get at least another year on my Dell laptop. It can run Windows 11 just fine, but I'm in no hurry.

 

[rvvaquero]

It can run Windows 11 just fine, but I'm in no hurry.

I put off installing Win11 for a long time. I finally upgraded my two desktops and one 14 year old laptop to Win11 a couple months ago. The laptop would not upgrade without doing some registry trickery, but it was easy enough to find out how and to perform. All three devices are running smooth and quick.

I have lot's of old programs running on the machines. Everything made the transition just fine, except for a package of Win7 games which I enjoy. I had to find them on the internet and re-install on the Win11 OS. That did the trick as they are now running just fine.

Don't be skeered.

 

[k4otl]

I'm still running Windows 7 (hence my avatar) on 3 PCs offline, I only have 1 Windows 10 device that gets connected to the Interwebs

 

["MysteryMan"]

2025-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 Version 25H2, Build: 26200.6901 for x64-based Systems (KB5070773) has been released. Moderate time needed for those choosing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new major features introduced.

 

[WhiteBeard]

View attachment 186285

However, not all Windows apps run natively in Linux. I have 2 apps that only run on Mac and Windows. I have to upgrade to Windows 11 in order to run next years TurboTax. Only one of my PCs meets the Win11 requirements but there are workarounds to get Win11 installed on computers that don't have TPM 2.0 but meet all the other requirements. And there is a program at github that will get rid of all the Win11 bloatware and eliminate the anti-privacy apps as well as allow you to do a local login instead of a M$ log in. flyoobe to install Win11 on non-compliant PC and crapfixer to remove bloatware and privacy issues.

 

[TRG]

However, not all Windows apps run natively in Linux. I have 2 apps that only run on Mac and Windows. I have to upgrade to Windows 11 in order to run next years TurboTax. Only one of my PCs meets the Win11 requirements but there are workarounds to get Win11 installed on computers that don't have TPM 2.0 but meet all the other requirements. And there is a program at github that will get rid of all the Win11 bloatware and eliminate the anti-privacy apps as well as allow you to do a local login instead of a M$ log in.

You can use TurboTax online. Its browser based and works fine with Firefox in Linux.

 

[WhiteBeard]

You can use TurboTax online. Its browser based and works fine with Firefox in Linux.

It appears that there is tax software that runs natively on Linux. I might give that a try.

 

[harshness]

I have to upgrade to Windows 11 in order to run next years TurboTax.

In case anyone is wondering if this is fake news, look here:

How does the end of support for Windows 10 affect my TurboTax Desktop experience?

Microsoft will end free technical support and security updates for the Windows 10 operating system on October 14, 2025. Read this Microsoft article to learn mor

ttlc.intuit.com

It isn't entirely clear how widespread this kind of malfeasance will be among other software publishers.

 

[Jim S.]

It isn't entirely clear how widespread this kind of malfeasance will be among other software publishers.

Since it's financial software, they're probably just swallowing the corporatist dogma that anyone not running the latest patches is inevitably going to get compromised. Of course they never defend their assertion logically. Most people are running behind some sort of NAT box, even if it doesn't include an explicit firewall, so that's going to knock out a lot of hacking activity right there, leaving mostly the issue of stupid people clicking on things that they shouldn't, which no operating system is going to fix.

 

[harshness]

Since it's financial software, they're probably just swallowing the corporatist dogma that anyone not running the latest patches is inevitably going to get compromised.

Microsoft tilting at patching things is absolutely no assurance that Windows won't be as buggy as ever. For all of Microsoft's bloviating about security, its patch payloads seem to get bigger every month.

Security comes mostly from antivirus/antimalware products, which even Microsoft continues to support on Windows 10.

 

[Jim S.]

Microsoft tilting at patching things is absolutely no assurance that Windows won't be as buggy as ever. For all of Microsoft's bloviating about security, its patch payloads seem to get bigger every month.

Security comes mostly from antivirus/antimalware products, which even Microsoft continues to support on Windows 10.

I agree. Windows 11, however, also supposedly defaults to full-disk encryption. I'll never enable that, because how the hell are you supposed to recover your disk if it gets corrupted, plus it'll be incompatible with Linux. But just last week I saw someone in the Microsoft forum on the successor to Broadband Reports claim that you would be insane not to use full-disk encryption, and nobody challenged him. So much bootlicking goes on in that forum at times that you'd think it was an official Microsoft venue.

 

[HipKat]

I agree. Windows 11, however, also supposedly defaults to full-disk encryption. I'll never enable that, because how the hell are you supposed to recover your disk if it gets corrupted, plus it'll be incompatible with Linux. But just last week I saw someone in the Microsoft forum on the successor to Broadband Reports claim that you would be insane not to use full-disk encryption, and nobody challenged him. So much bootlicking goes on in that forum at times that you'd think it was an official Microsoft venue.

You know Windows incorporates Linux features now? You can run Kali, Ubuntu and Debian with Windows Subsystem for Linux?

 

[harshness]

You know Windows incorporates Linux features now? You can run Kali, Ubuntu and Debian with Windows Subsystem for Linux?

That's all you need: Linux virtual volumes on encrypted Windows volumes.

 

["MysteryMan"]

.NET Framework Preview Update (KB5067931) and Preview Update (KB5067036) Build:26200.7019 have been released. Moderate time needed for those choosing to perform a manual download/install/restart. Quality improvements only. No new major features introduced.