#tech advice

[exchangell]

bruh i just bought a new macbook and it’s started telling me how much it hates me 24/7??? wtf apple

[river-taxbird]

Have YOU got an old Windows PC Microsoft has told you can't run Windows 11? It's time to give it a new life!

How to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC Hardware using Rufus. You can also disable some other Windows 11 bullshit like data harvesting and needing a Microsoft account.

It has been in the news a lot lately that Windows 11 isn't allowed to be installed on PCs without certain requirements, including the TPM 2.0, a chip that was only included in PCs made in 2018 or later. This means that once Windows 10 stops receiving security updates, those PCs will not be able to (officially) run a safe, updated version of Windows anymore. This has led to an estimated 240 million PCs bound for the landfill. Thanks Microsoft! I get you don't want to be seen as the insecure one, but creating this much waste can't be the solution.

(I know nerds, Linux is a thing. I love you but we are not having that conversation. If you want to use Linux on an old PC you are already doing it and you don't need to tell me about it. People need Windows for all sorts of reasons that Linux won't cut.)

So lately I have been helping some under privileged teens get set up with PCs. Their school was giving away their old lab computers, and these kids would usually have no chance to afford even a basic computer. They had their hard drives pulled so I have been setting them up with SSDs, but the question was, what to do about the operating system? So I looked into it and I found out there IS actually a way to bypass Microsoft's system requirement and put Windows 11 on PCs as old as 2010.

You will need: Rufus: An open source ISO burning tool.

A Windows 11 ISO: Available from Microsoft.

A USB Flash Drive, at least 16GB.

A working PC to make the ISO, and a PC from 2018 or older you want to install Windows 11 on.

Here is the guide I used, but I will put it in my own words as well.

Download your Windows 11 ISO, and plug in your USB drive. It will be erased, so don't have anything valuable on it. Run Rufus, select your USB drive in the Device window, and select your Windows 11 ISO with the Select button. (There is supposed to be a feature in Rufus to download your ISO but I couldn't get it to work.?

Choose standard windows installation, and follow the screenshot for your settings. Once you are done that, press Start, and then the magic happens. Another window pops up allowing you to remove the system requirements, the need for a microsoft account, and turn off data collecting. Just click the options you want, and press ok to write your iso to a drive.

From there you just need to use the USB drive to install windows. I won't go into details here, but here are some resources if you don't know how to do it.

Boot your PC from a USB Drive

Install Windows 11 from USB Drive

If you had a licensed copy of Windows 10, Windows 11 will already be licensed. If you don't, then perhaps you can use some kind of... Activation Scripts for Microsoft software, that will allow you to activate them. Of course I cannot link such tools here. So there you go, now you can save a PC made from before 2018 from the landfill, and maybe give it to a deserving teen in the process. The more we can extend the lives of technology and keep it out of the trash, the better.

Additional note: This removes the requirement for having 4GB Minimum of RAM, but I think that requirement should honestly be higher. Windows 11 will be unusable slow on any system with below 8GB of RAM. 8GB is the minimum I think you should have before trying this but it still really not enough for modern use outside of light web and office work. I wouldn't recommend trying this on anything with 4GB or less. I am honestly shocked they are still selling brand new Windows 11 PCs with 4GB of ram. If you're not sure how much RAM you have, you can find out in the performance tab of Task Manager in Windows, if you click the More Details icon on the bottom right. If you don't have enough, RAM for old systems is super cheap and widely available so it would definitely be worth upgrading if you have a ram starved machine you'd like to give a new life.

[linguini17]

I am looking for a music player for Windows/Android that works sort of like iTunes, where I can rip music from CDs and have it on my phone. Trying to get rid of streaming apps as much as possible. Anyone have any recommendations? I don't mind paying a reasonable amount, so long as I'm able to play different file types, can make playlists, and play music offline.

[kiriekonamistan]

I have a question and need an outside perspective on the issue

@the-malice-experience

I need an outside view of this situation.

For anyone who uses the Youtube APP, not the website, is it bugged right now for anyone else?? I view videos in landscape mode (holding my phone sideways) and when I slide my finger up from the bottom it's supposed to show recommended videos, but right now I'd be lucky if it showed a bunch of buggy looking 'mix' playlist things and there's a white bar where the filters are supposed to be. Sometimes it won't even show those, though, sliding my finger up on the screen doesn't do ANYthing right now. I've checked my Old and Current phones BOTH and it's like that with both of them. This has happened on rare occasions before but NORMALLY; I'd just press the 'next video' or 'previous video' button and then once that loaded and started playing I'd just go back to the first video I'd been watching, But Now the 'next' and 'previous' video buttons are BOTH Gone (so is the auto-play slider but I don't care as much about that thing, I never use auto-play anyway). Is this just an issue/glitch with the UI?? Is anyone else having this trouble? Please let me know, I need more info to settle my anxieties.

I've been having horribly annoying audio bug issues with my Current Phone (A separate issue) which is why I was using my Old Phone to begin with, but these bugs are trying my sanity, I'm not joking about that.

Please, tell me if you're experiencing this too.

[imsosocold]

Is there a way to download a copy of your phone's photos while keeping their edits and changes? Is there a way to download a copy of your phone's notes with the  attachments attached? 

[aahanna]

AI servers are hungry, and thirsty

#stopusingAi

If you ask one question from CHAT GPT- MEANS YOU are WASTING , 5 GLASSES OF WATER

AI servers need gallons of water to keep them cool , every time we search on AI the heat release from servers, soo they need gallons of water to cool them down, which is very concerning for the environment

Air pollution and carbon emissions are well-known environmental costs of AI. But, a much lesser-known fact is that AI models are also water guzzlers. They consume fresh water in two ways: onsite server cooling (scope 1) and offsite electricity generation (scope 2).

You guys better stop using AI apps .... Cuz soon this leads to water scarcity

[mckitterick]

Android text messenger advice request!

we've all been getting notifications about how the built-in text messenger is going away on Android, so I'm looking for something to replace it that is:

1) free

2) open-source or otherwise safe, private, and secure

3) ad-free

4) able to use my existing contacts and, optimally, import my existing text messages. so SMS-capable, I guess

5) not part of Google, Meta, or any of the other enshittified techbro corporations' ecosystems

6) clean from "AI"

I don't care about bells and whistles, I just need a text messenger that does the things Samsung's built-in messenger does (texts, photos, group messages, and such)

I downloaded Signal, but it turns out you can't use that for texting unless your contacts are also on Signal. not useful. also it doesn't import existing texts or contacts on my phone. even less useful. deleted. at least it's secure and open-source

any advice is appreciated!

(also to hell with Samsung for forcing this nonsense. no way will I use their automatic replacement, Google)