Windows 11

I recently upgraded my work computer from i5 8th Generation to i7 11th Generation. In the opposite of installing OS from scratch and setting it all up again, as I haven’t got time, I decided to use Rescuezilla and simply clone my system from the old hard drive to the new computer.

All goes well.

After the first run, some drivers needed to be updated. I needed to detach the Windows 11 license from the old computer and pair it with one that had been delivered (embedded) with it.

All seems to be working really well until I start putting a bit of a stressful task into it.

Cloudflare’s DNS service, known as 1.1.1.1, has transformed the internet for the better and continues to make a significant impact every day.

From setting DNS on your device to installing the dedicated app for using WARP technology, you can make your connections faster by choosing optimised routes for traffic.

If you are an advanced user, you can secure your entire network at home or in the workplace by implementing Cloudflare technology at your router.

For some users, this may feel too overwhelming.

Windows 11 introduced built-in integration for Secured DNS (Encrypted) that can be implemented at the interface level (your network card, whether wired or wireless). Thanks to this, all the DNS requests going through it will be encrypted.

I used to use Parallels Desktop and with my hand on my heart, I can tell that this is one of the best software to run Windows 11 on Mac with Apple Silicon.

There is a big problem for me, however. Parallels Desktop is a bit expensive in long term. As expensive the life become recently, everybody is trying to save some pennies, even me. I cut unnecessary subscriptions by some and Parallels has been one of them (along with Bitdefender in favour of free Avira). I recalculate the use of Windows on my macOS device and the conclusion was that I am paying and not using it.

In a searching for Windows 11 designated to arm64 based processors, (like Apple M1 and newer) I found, on UUP Dump, a version Windows 11 arm64, which was marked as designed for Retail. I decided to try to install it in UTM on macOS and my MacBook Air with M1.

I have been using Parallels Desktop since 2014. Initially, I purchased a full licence which I upgrade roughly every year. The upgrade was a bit necessary as related closely to the macOS updates and new functions introduced.

Over the years the business model of the company behind this software changed.

Introducing the subscription model, Standards and Pro versions put a bit of confusion. At the time I stuck with version 15 for some time until I upgraded to MacBook Air M1 in 2021.

I was forced to move into version 17 to get the support for Apple Silicon however I found a good deal at the time (a bundle deal) so was happy with it. Once my subscription was up for renewal I was greeted with a renewal fee of £79.99!

For the last few months, I haven’t been using this software often enough, so I start thinking, do I need it? Is there any alternative that offers Windows OS on macOS with an M1 chip that is finally worth considering?

If you have updated to Windows 11 from Windows 10, the below steps will help you to clean leftovers in your system and make it close enough to the performance known from the 10th edition.

If you planning (or did) to install Windows 11 from an official ISO, make sure that you using always the latest one. At the time of writing this text, the ISO available is the 2nd since the system has been presented to the world (64v1).

Recently I came across a problem where a freshly installed Windows wouldn’t download updates.

The search for updates took forever or, if they did appear, they were stuck in the download queue (Pending Download) and there was no way to convince them to download. Clicking the Download button did nothing. Even the tried and tested methods of resetting the Windows Update service didn’t help.

Therefore, I started looking for another solution and that’s how I came across the update method using PowerShell.

Each of us would like to use the computer for as long as possible, so that the money invested in it would pay off in time. Therefore, a large number of people would also like to use the latest system from Microsoft, which is Windows 11.

Microsoft has introduced a certain barrier when it comes to what equipment will be able to freely run Windows 11.

In September 2018, I wrote a few words about Windows Defender, as my default antivirus for Windows 10. It’s been a few years since I’ve used it at work (as well as the rest of the people in the company). I recommend Microsoft’s default solution built into Windows 10/11 to anyone I help with their computer.

So I decided to check if Windows Defender is still a solution worth recommending. After all, it’s free, and you have to pay for all the others, so what’s the catch?

Half jokingly, half seriously. I recently discovered what was eating up my disk space on my work computer.