Original subtitles

Many of you who are users of Windows 10

are likely in panic since Windows 10 is

about to be classified as end of life by

Microsoft. End of life is today, October

14th, 2025,

a day that will live in tech infamy.

Currently, still 40% of Windows users

are still on Windows 10.

Likely the main reason you have not

updated to Windows 11 is because you

cannot. Your old computer is considered

junk now because it doesn't have this

thing called a TPM chip. You're being

pushed to get a C-pilot PC, one that is

equipped to handle the AI companion,

even though likely you have not come up

with a reason to want to use some spying

AI in your daily computer life. So, you

don't want this. But it's worse. So,

Microsoft has basically been

systematically

exerting dominance over its users to the

point that you question now if your

machine is yours or if it is Microsoft

and you're just paying for it. Just to

put some balance in this video, let me

show you that I have a long career as a

Windows developer and I've had Bill

Gates demonstrate my software at a

keynote speech and I'm a Windows expert.

And for many years, even as a privacy

guru, I had a tolerant approach to

Windows since there were many ways I

could configure it to avoid privacy

dangers. But in recent years, with the

advent of Windows 11, I have to say that

Microsoft has truly gone crazy. And the

current direction of Windows 11 tells me

that it is time for all of you to go.

You are not a Microsoft slave. You own

your device. Take your freedom back.

dump Windows otherwise it will own you.

Microsoft has plans for you and you will

not like those plans. What I'm going to

discuss here are the specific reasons

that I have to part ways with Windows

and hopefully software developers make

good versions of their products in

Linux. So we have little reason to use

this Windows 11 garbage and you will

discover that it is garbage. Yes, this

is a rant. So, if you want to learn the

specifics, stay right there.

Windows 10 end of life. While it is

definitely the right of a software

company to classify their old software

as end of life, especially after 10

years of release, one needs to ask why

there's so much resistance. I've never

encountered so much resistance to moving

to a newer version. likely since DOSs

3.1 to Windows and that was justifiable.

Windows required new hardware since DOS

3.1 was textbased and Windows was

graphical and tons of software had to

change to go to Windows which took time.

But in theory, most apps that work in

Windows 10 will still work in Windows

11. Yet there's so much resistance and

much of it likely is because the users

cannot upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft

itself is blocking them. In order for

many users to move to Windows 11, they

have to buy newer computers. And the

justification for this on the Microsoft

side is twofold. First is the push for

this security chip called a TPM chip

which is lacking on old computers and

which I will tell you now is a huge risk

to privacy. And the second justification

for Microsoft is to encourage more

people to use Windows C-Pilot, which

creates AI capable computers. Again, a

massive risk to privacy. But there's

more. New computers using Windows 11 now

turn on Bit Locker, which is disk

encryption by default. You might think

this is a good thing, but not really.

Windows has been forcing us to use cloud

services constantly with features like

one drive to ensure that you keep your

files on Microsoft servers. And now

they're pushing the new Windows backup.

There's the push for Office 365 again to

ensure that Microsoft keeps your

documents.

Or how about the Microsoft ID and the

constant battle to ensure that you have

a computer free from a privacy invading

identifier? or how Microsoft keeps

forcing updates that you cannot turn

off. I'm going to cover all these

approaches by Microsoft and explain to

you why you don't want them.

Microsoft ID.

I'm sure this irks a lot of people

lately. It is extremely difficult to

install Windows without a Microsoft ID.

Basically, Microsoft wants you to log

into them just like Apple and Google

requires you to to ensure that device is

tied to an identity. There's still a way

to avoid the Microsoft ID, but it is not

obvious and requires so much trial and

error to figure out. But basically, most

people will be forced to put an ID card

on your computer. So, whatever you do on

the internet can be attributed to your

particular machine. When Microsoft began

pushing this heavily in later updates of

Windows 10 and now locked in in Windows

11 for the most part, it was the first

sign of a red flag. Microsoft became big

all of a sudden again as a company once

they moved their infrastructure to a

cloud-based one. This has guaranteed the

income stream to Microsoft and raised

their position as the number two company

in valuation at $3.9 trillion. This

growth in the cloud is Satiana Dela's

claim to fame. So the idea of the

Microsoft ID is to tie you to the cloud.

One drive means you store your data to

the cloud. Lately they're pushing

Windows backup. And of course with

Office 365, Xbox, and now with Copilot,

your life will truly reside in Microsoft

servers. This of course is the original

Google formulas, so they're keen to

dominate that now. And as proof,

Microsoft has surpassed even Google in

valuation. As a privacy expert, one of

the main goals I have is to ensure that

devices have anonymity. And you cannot

do that if your device is currently

logged into Microsoft where app and

device telemetry ensures that they know

everything you're doing on your machine.

And the Microsoft ID is a big and

primary part of this. Since they don't

want you to have an anonymous device,

then this is definitely a nogo for me.

It's my machine. I paid for it.

Microsoft didn't pay for it. So, as I

will explain in many details here,

Microsoft is definitely not interested

in respecting your rights to have other

things on your computer, even in

separate partitions. I have had multiple

instances of Windows wiping out entire

Linux partitions and even a data only

partition just because it didn't

recognize the format. This is extremely

aggravating. I have lost so much data

from unexpected events like doing a

Windows update and having it wipe the

dual boot files and then continuing on

to overwriting partition data to wipe

Linux completely. As an advanced user,

even if I had no gripes with Microsoft,

there are many reasons for me to have

multiple operating systems on my

machine. This is not that uncommon with

software developers. Yet, they force

updates on you and you can't stop it and

then they act like they're the only

users of the machine. Now, over time,

I've come up with workarounds to the

stupidity of Windows and Windows

policies, and I'll discuss that in an

upcoming dual boot video. But generally,

this lack of certainty to what Windows

will do is a dangerous roll of the dice

for people who make a living off

computers.

TPM is for you or for them. One of the

biggest changes that Microsoft made is

to not allow updates to Windows 11 from

Windows 10. If your computer doesn't

have the security chip called ATPM,

which is an acronym for trusted platform

module, you don't need to worry about

what it means. It's a security chip and

it has similar functions to the Titan M2

chip on Pixels or the Apple secure

enclave on iPhones. The basic

functionality of the TPM, as with all

other security chips, is that

cryptographic keys used for encryption

are not kept in the open in accessible

memory or hard drive where third parties

can potentially have access to them.

Instead, the keys are stored inside the

TPM with inaccessible private keys.

There's no way to see the private keys.

You present a public key to the TPM chip

and it can validate it via the chip by

checking the private key internally.

This allows things like dis encryption

to be done without creating some

loophole for some hacker to capture an

encryption key because its processes are

locked inside a separate chip. There's

theoretically no outside access to it.

Sounds good in theory, right? Now, let

me tell you the multiple problems with

this TPM module. As it turns out,

Microsoft actually stores your Microsoft

ID together with the device ID

identifiers in the cloud tied to your

Microsoft account. This will become

important when we talk about Bit Locker,

which I'll discuss next. But the main

issue here is that the TPM module is a

device identifier. In fact, on most

operating systems, whether it is Apple,

Google or Microsoft, the security chip

actually announces a unique device

identifier. Since each security chip is

flashed with a unique value for each

device, it is like an IMEI on a phone.

It gives out a unique ID. The problem is

that some specific Microsoft products

and services validate you based on this

unique ID. And because it is now

connected to the cloud, added to your

upcoming extreme relationship with the

Windows Copilot AI Companion, this is

now going to be extra dangerous. What

would have been a better option is to be

able to insert your own security chip in

your computer, similar to a UB key,

where you can plug it or remove it at

will, depending on what you're doing.

Then at least you're given a choice.

Now, there's no choice. Windows 11

requires a TPM and Windows 11 will track

your Microsoft ID together with your

device ID based on the TPM. New software

utilizes this. Now, gamers are suddenly

discovering that their device ID are

known to Microsoft and didn't know how.

Yes, of course, there's the Xbox ID for

Xbox gamers, but now the device ID is

specifically known and is pulled from

the TPM.

Third parties can access this now with

no restriction via API. If you want to

know how to check your TPM status, here

are example commands on Windows. By the

way, you can restrict access to the TPM

in Linux, and I'll make a separate TPM

video in the future to manage all this.

There's a deliberate purpose to all this

madness, and it's all tied to the AI.

So, don't think this is some random

choice by Microsoft, but I'll get to

that. In the meantime, let's go to the

next level, which is Bit Locker.

Bit Locker.

Bit Locker is new. If you buy a new

Windows computer, you will have this

shock when you try to install Linux on

it or if you try to turn off secure

boot. Bit Locker is a new Microsoft

drive encryption. It is a Microsoftonly

product. It is tied to the full hard

drive. So you cannot for example have a

Linux partition freely. It will also be

subject to Bit Locker. Yes, I'll discuss

secure boot later as well. I just got

myself a new laptop. It's a brand new

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. And as usual,

as the first step to installing Linux, I

would typically go to BIOS and turn off

secure boot. Was I in for a shock?

First, Windows 11 Bit Locker was enabled

by default. So the moment I turn off

secure boot without warning the drive

locked up and I basically had no access

to the SSD drive. The lock up is at the

BIOS level. So basically it will refuse

to boot the hard drive. Now I can of

course reformat the hard drive some

other way or insert a different SSD

drive. But unlike older versions of

Windows on my particular computer there

is no longer a recovery partition. So

you can't just boot to recovery. I had

to find a custom boot image from Lenovo

and flash it to a USB. I spent an entire

day making a boot partition, copying all

my data, and I lost it all and had to

start from scratch. Now, here's the

kicker. When you lose access because of

Bit Locker, it revealed some interesting

things. Apparently, when you log in

using your Microsoft ID, the recovery

key for your hard drive as stored in the

TPM and the device ID are all now stored

at Microsoft and tied to your Microsoft

ID. So basically, while you think your

Bit Locker is tied to just your TPM

chip, in reality, it is tied to

Microsoft since someone with access to

your Microsoft ID can basically recover

your Bit Locker encrypted drive recovery

key. In my case, and maybe because I

turned off my Microsoft ID, I actually

could not unlock my Bit Locker lock

drive. I had to start from scratch.

However, this exposes how this supposed

security protection is fundamentally

tied to Microsoft control. The thing

that angers me the most is that this is

a drive where I, as the owner, decided

to make a separate partition for another

operating system. And yet Microsoft

decides that it will override that and

take control of the entire drive. Linux

of course does not have rights to Bit

Locker. It is not some open-source

software. So Microsoft here decided that

it owned your computer, not you.

Secure boot.

Secure boot is a BIOS setting and if

enabled anytime you boot an operating

system like Windows or a DRO like

Ubuntu, the UP boot software will check

the signing key of the product and see

if it is an approved OS, meaning it is

signed using Microsoft keys. That alone

is problematic, but we'll ignore that

for now. In some ways, secure boot was a

waste of time because for the average

person, it did not offer any kind of

security. at least until Bit Locker and

TPM happened. All you had to do was turn

secure boot off. There's no security

whatsoever required in turning off

secure boot in BIOS. You could do this

to any computer, but this was only an

inconvenience as it potentially delayed

a hacker by maybe only 2 minutes.

However, what I didn't realize is that

since DROs like Ubuntu are actually

signed using Microsoft keys that they

don't need secure boot to be turned off.

It does bother me that Microsoft inserts

themselves into security features of the

bootloader, but at least popular distros

are exempt. Special distros will require

secure boot to be turned off though. But

the worst part about secure boot is that

it totally messes up using virtual

machines. If you're going to use any

virtual machine like KVM or virtual box,

it's actually going to use the same

bootloader programs with secure boot and

it will cause the VM to fail. So you

have to run a bunch of command line

instructions to sign the virtual machine

software itself again using the same

Microsoft keys.

I mean it's really hard to get Microsoft

away from anything. The tendrils of

control are just everywhere.

And again to remind you of what I just

said, secure boot is now tied to Bit

Locker. If you turn off secure boot, Bit

Locker will lock up and there's no

direct recovery by turning secure boot

back on. And in case you're wondering,

yes, secure boot is another Microsoft

invention.

Force updates.

just to make sure that they have full

control over your machine. Microsoft of

course forces updates on you. All these

are under the guise of cyber security of

course and I'm sure all these cyber

security experts will all chime in and

say that I need all this. Yeah, right.

Why not let me decide that? You don't

know what I want or need. And in any

case, I have limited use of Windows.

Extremely limited. Like 1% usage. So, I

don't want an OS I use 1% of the time to

dictate my use of the computer 100% of

the time. You want to hack my Windows

installation? Go ahead. I have nothing

on it. It just bugs me that someone else

decides what I need and choices are kept

from me. And these force updates have

caused me massive problems. One of the

well-known incidents was when Microsoft

overwrote the boot instructions, which

in my case is set up to be dual boot. I

can choose to boot Linux or Windows. I'm

primarily a Linux user. Then it

completely overrides the boot

instruction. So now I can't boot to

Linux. So usually I have to always put a

delay on Windows updates, which you can

only delay up to two weeks. This gives

me an allowance to prepare for a

catastrophe, but that's the limit, 2

weeks. So I have to find some time

within a twoe window to do an update. I

don't want to be in the middle of an

important project and be shut down just

because I voted to zucking Windows. For

my specific use, I rarely want a Windows

update if some specific major security

thing is announced. I would like to be

given the choice. Tell me the risk and

I'll decide. But I guess it is no longer

your computer when you run Windows 11.

Overwriting partitions.

Again, similar to the updates

overwriting the boot instructions, you

have some dangerous utilities like

Windows disk management utility. Again,

one that was designed to prevent other

operating systems from running. If you

accidentally go into disk management and

decide to view a Linux partition, which

it will not recognize, you might

accidentally overwrite the entire

partition and lose everything. And this

is something that already happened to

me. At the very least, it should

recognize a foreign partition and not

allow a write, at least without a ton of

warnings. But there's no warning. It

just overwrites and your Linux partition

with all your data is suddenly wiped out

just because you decided to have Linux

coexist with Windows because, you know,

you think it's your own computer. A

Linux partition is formatted using ext4.

You think in this day and age that

Windows with its resources could

recognize an ext4 partition, especially

since it is zucking open source, but of

course they do this intentionally.

The real objective is AI. Like I said,

there's a reason to all this madness,

and it is the control that Microsoft

wants to put on us. So, let me show you

this again in case you forgot. Well, I

mean, I guess the first thing to say is

that we are on a mission to create a

true AI companion. And to me, an AI

companion is one that can hear what you

hear um and see what you see and live

life essentially alongside you. um you

know your AI companion will be able to

remember uh everything that you've

talked about session to session

understand the content of the web pages

that you browse um and be able to talk

to you just like I'm talking to you now

so it's going to have this seamless

fluid very very smooth conversational

interaction yes the purpose of this is

to immerse yourself in the see what you

see technology for the computer to get

to know you intimately ly for the

computer to be a copy of your brain. So

the way this is intended to work, the

vast majority of you have to be running

on a Windows Copilot PC with Windows 11.

And if you have this setup, then Windows

recall starts recording all your

activity by screenshots every few

seconds. Then the AI analyzes what's

happening on screen and notates it and

stores that information on the hard

drive. in which case Windows 11 will

have a complete history of your life.

Now, of course, philosophically

speaking, putting your entire life on a

computer changes the way you use a

computer. Suddenly, you have to be super

interested in cyber security because you

need to protect your device in ways you

didn't have to do before. Makes sense.

This information used to be private in

your brain. and now it is on your

computer and now you have to lock it up

with all the security BS. Did you need

this? If you're like me where you

partition what you do in your life, you

don't need to put your entire life on

display in social media. Just like I

don't need my computer to know

everything, but they're not making it a

choice. It is a crazy decision, but it

comes with all the baggage of requiring

Bit Locker, Secure Boot, and a TPM. And

I'm sure they'll add more in the future

because without all this, someone could

hack your computer and read all your

data. Of course, no one tells you that

HQ could just ask the AI what it knows

about you and it is able to summarize

that for someone without having to do

any special decryption. This is the

stupidity of all this. This is the

purpose of all this BS. The answer, of

course, is just to say no. Thank you.

We're not given a choice. So, make the

choice and not use Windows 11 unless you

believe in this AI companion BS. People

often argue with me about issues related

to cyber security versus privacy. This

is a clear explanation of the

difference. All the cyber security

protections put in by Microsoft are here

to take away all your privacy. If you're

a follower of mine, you are at odds with

this reasoning. So, install Linux and

tell Microsoft to go zuck themselves.

Folks, thank you for watching my videos.

As many of you know, this channel does

not have sponsors and we primarily

sustain ourselves by just creating

products and services that we use to

defend our privacy posture. I'd like to

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and they converge together in the mutual

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Join us. We'd love to have you there and

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See you next time.