Windows 10 is sort of officially EOL now, I'm curious who is already using the bloated AI spyware of Windows 11 and who has yet to upgrade or will be sticking with Windows 10?

I'm currently running 10 and have no plans to upgrade, I'm probably going to try and convert my active license into a Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 license (EOL January 13, 2032). I haven't looked into it thoroughly yet but it doesn't seem like there should be any drawbacks as it will still receive security patches, just not new features.

Seems like it's heading towards that or some flavour of linux instead of Windows 11, but as I still occasionally do play games I don't really want the hassle of getting things going on linux, or reinstalling to begin with.

If you have drive space just install Linux mint and keep W 10 an option when you install Mint, I have used Mint for many years now, easy to install and fast updates.

I might give it a try or some other variant on my old spare rig that's also still running Windows 10.

Either way, I think I'd still need to switch to the IoT LTSC to keep it patched, as I'm sure it won't be long before exploits start appearing.

I can't believe there's a mass of people that have actually downgraded to Windows 7 with all the exploits that has now.

im sticking with windows 10

hate upgrading os

still make every pc I use look like windows xp

Are you going to try and switch to long term support or just brave it with no updates?

just brave it tbh, don't really have much luck with updates anyway

anyone upgraded?

I've got a tablet with win11 on and hate it... but not sure if it's just because it's a tablet?

I installed Win10 IoT Enterprise LTSC on my laptop using this guide/script and it was a painless process, so then I did my main rig. Had no issues at all, I think afterwards I disabled a couple of things that were re-enabled, like Windows Search indexing and that was about it.

If you don't want Microslop AI forced on you with the bugfest of Windows 11 I'd highly recommend it.

Quote from: Clock'd 0Ne on February 22, 2026, 12:30:52 PMI installed Win10 IoT Enterprise LTSC on my laptop using this guide/script and it was a painless process, so then I did my main rig. Had no issues at all, I think afterwards I disabled a couple of things that were re-enabled, like Windows Search indexing and that was about it.

If you don't want Microslop AI forced on you with the bugfest of Windows 11 I'd highly recommend it.

Thanks I'll have to do this, looks handy and buys me plenty of time, Win10 is bad enough, I CBA with 11, and Linux I'll inevitably get round to at some point.

I've got my old spare rig I'm tempted to try with CachyOS (Linux) at some point, which is a new kid on the block but seems to be highly regarded and good for gaming too.

pretty off topic but on topic too... I needed to format a bunch of 520byke netapp sas drives to 512byte... I've done it before, it's a linux command line job... and I hate that stuff, make too many typos and forget the commands etc. etc..... I'd set at the server with a laptop open having to google everything as I went

thought I's fire up google gemini in chrome and get it to walk me through.... was a pain in the arse copying things back and forward...

so I installed the gemini cli software on the server in ubuntu.... and it's awesome... ok beats around the bush a little bit, but was a million times easier

5 disk shelves with 4x4tb drives in each, I told it to format them all, do 12 drives in each shelf all in parallel, every time a disk finishes formatting start flashing it's location led and start formatting another drive

then I buggered off and left it for 2 days (the formats are long/slow)

previously that would have taken me probably 2 weeks of going back and forth checking it / tweaking it etc.

at the end I got it to health check all the drives (it ran a whole bunch of checks I've never even heard of)

then i unplugged those disk shelves, plugged the next ones in and told it to do them... works perfect



ran an ubuntu vm on my main server to run the gps tracking software I use at work, I've always run it under windows before, tried linux but it was a total pita to setup/get it right, can;t just install it, have to set up databases, passwords, port forwarding, web server etc. etc...

same again, ran gemini cli, it did the lot for me... I didn't like the web interface on the new version of the gps server so it rolled back to an older version, and then an even older one to get the interface I like


so while I know naff all linux and I'm pretty anti AI.... I'm kind of changing my mind now :-o

I basically have to use it for work now (management decisions), the models have come on a long way in the last year to the point that they are actually useful for tasks and not just single operations or questions. I'm using Claude Code and It's saved me a lot of time on things I'm perfectly capable of doing but it can output much faster, I still have to check everything to make sure its legit, make the odd correction here and there, but I do really like the fact that you can give it a task and just leave it running and doing its thing and it will resolve problems along the way. I'd never pay my own money to use it, though.

The key thing with using AI is to remember that not only can it hallucinate, you're not guaranteed reproducible results exactly the same way. The best thing you could do is ask it to write you a script to do exactly what you just described. Make scripts, tools, things you can use that mean you don't need to rely on AI in future or hope that it works the same way next time. That's the real power, giving you power back by saving you time on kitting you out, not replacing you altogether. Vibe coding and pumping slop to live sites, no. Making scripts, tools, prototypes, designing, parroting, yes all good.