Why You Shouldn't Use Microsoft Windows11.

Windows11 was released on October 5th in 2021 but was leaked online long before its release.

First of all, not everyone running Windows10 will be able to update to Windows11, because of newly introduced "Security" and "Gaming" features, which requires better hardware.

Lets list the advantages and then the cons.

Advantages so far:

• Cortana ( like Google's Assistant and Amazon's Alexa, with which you interact by voice ), has been removed from Windows11.
• Teams seems to have replaced Skype. This could be better or worse.
• Timeline has been removed, which would display the apps and documents accessed, the sites visited and so on in chronological order.
• Live Tiles is no longer available, but can be added again.
• There’s no more tablet mode.
• OneNote for Windows 10 isn't included.

CPU - requirements:

When it comes to CPU's ( Your Processor ) it is recommended your system has Intel 8th generation CPUs, AMD Zen 2 or Qualcomm 7 and 8 Series that have the right hardware features and full support for security, reliability and performance.

For those running INTEL 7th generation CPUs or AMD Zen CPUs, they have the hardware features, but are according to Microsoft  are "Limited". Thus anything older than this simply will not work out of the box.

Data collection is the main reason why you shouldn't use Windows10 or Windows11:

Even if you're using the world's best VPN, it's not going to protect your data from going directly to Microsoft if you're signed into one of their accounts. Also using Android apps from Amazon will for sure leak even more of your data.

Microsoft Teams shell integration could be used to build a profile on you and your friends.

Windows 11's desktop widgets uses AI to present tailored information, like advertisements to you by monitoring your interests. Meaning they collect alot of data on you.

Microsoft provides a privacy dashboard on its account website to help you manage your search and browser history, as well as the information Cortana has on you. You can clear your location history and manage your app data too, kind of like Google.

Lets not forget the data that Office sends to Microsoft as of Office version 1904.

Microsoft Privacy Statement about Data collection:

This is far from the whole statement, but it lists the most important parts you really need to learn about.

"Microsoft collects data from you, through our interactions with you and through our products. You provide some of this data directly, and we get some of it by collecting data about your interactions, use, and experiences with our products. The data we collect depends on the context of your interactions with Microsoft and the choices you make, including your privacy settings and the products and features you use. We also obtain data about you from third parties."

Microsoft collects data from you, through our interactions with you and through our products for a variety of purposes described below, including to operate effectively and provide you with the best experiences with our products. You provide some of this data directly, such as when you create a Microsoft account, administer your organization’s licensing account, submit a search query to Bing, register for a Microsoft event, speak a voice command to Cortana, upload a document to OneDrive, sign up for Microsoft 365, or contact us for support. We get some of it by collecting data about your interactions, use, and experience with our products and communications.

We also obtain data from third parties.

We protect data obtained from third parties according to the practices described in this statement, plus any additional restrictions imposed by the source of the data. These third-party sources vary over time and include:

Data brokers from which we purchase demographic data to supplement the data we collect.
Services that make user-generated content from their service available to others, such as local business reviews or public social media posts.
Communication services, including email providers and social networks, when you give us permission to access your data on such third-party services or networks.
Service providers that help us determine your device’s location.
Partners with which we offer co-branded services or engage in joint marketing activities.
Developers who create experiences through or for Microsoft products.
Third parties that deliver experiences through Microsoft products. Publicly-available sources, such as open public sector, academic, and commercial data sets and other data sources.

The data we collect depends on the context of your interactions with Microsoft and the choices you make (including your privacy settings), the products and features you use, your location, and applicable law.

The data we collect can include the following:

Name and contact data. Your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data.

Credentials. Passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for authentication and account access.

Demographic data. Data about you such as your age, gender, country, and preferred language.

Payment data. Data to process payments, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number) and the security code associated with your payment instrument.

Subscription and licensing data. Information about your subscriptions, licenses, and other entitlements.

Interactions. Data about your use of Microsoft products. In some cases, such as search queries, this is data you provide in order to make use of the products. In other cases, such as error reports, this is data we generate.

Other examples of interactions data include:

• Device and usage data. Data about your device and the product and features you use, including information about your hardware and software, how our products perform, as well as your settings. For example:
  • Payment and account history. Data about the items you purchase and activities associated with your account.
  • Browse history. Data about the webpages you visit.
  • Device, connectivity, and configuration data. Data about your device, your device configuration, and nearby networks. For example, data about the operating systems and other software installed on your device, including product keys. In addition, IP address, device identifiers (such as the IMEI number for phones), regional and language settings, and information about WLAN access points near your device.
  • Error reports and performance data. Data about the performance of the products and any problems you experience, including error reports. Error reports (sometimes called “crash dumps”) can include details of the software or hardware related to an error, contents of files opened when an error occurred, and data about other software on your device.
  • Troubleshooting and help data. Data you provide when you contact Microsoft for help, such as the products you use, and other details that help us provide support. For example, contact or authentication data, the content of your chats and other communications with Microsoft, data about the condition of your device, and the products you use related to your help inquiry. When you contact us, such as for customer support, phone conversations or chat sessions with our representatives may be monitored and recorded.
  • Bot usage data. Interactions with third party bots and skills available through Microsoft products.
• Interests and favorites. Data about your interests and favorites, such as the sports teams you follow, the programming languages you prefer, the stocks you track, or cities you add to track things like weather or traffic. In addition to those you explicitly provide, your interests and favorites can also be inferred or derived from other data we collect.
• Content consumption data. Information about media content (e.g., TV, video, music, audio, text books, apps, and games) you access through our products.
• Searches and commands. Search queries and commands when you use Microsoft products with search or related productivity functionality.
• Voice data. Your voice data, sometimes referred to as “voice clips”, such as search queries, commands, or dictation you speak, which may include background sounds.
• Text, inking, and typing data. Text, inking, and typing data and related information. For example, when we collect inking data, we collect information about the placement of your inking instrument on your device.
• Images. Images and related information, such as picture metadata. For example, we collect the image you provide when you use a Bing image-enabled service.
• Contacts and relationships. Data about your contacts and relationships if you use a product to share information with others, manage contacts, communicate with others, or improve your productivity.
• Social data. Information about your relationships and interactions between you, other people, and organizations, such as types of engagement (e.g., likes, dislikes, events, etc.) related to people and organizations.
• Location data. Data about your device’s location, which can be either precise or imprecise. For example, we collect location data using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) (e.g., GPS) and data about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots. Location can also be inferred from a device’s IP address or data in your account profile that indicates where it is located with less precision, such as at a city or postal code level.
• Other input. Other inputs provided when you use our products. For example, data such as the buttons you press on an Xbox wireless controller using the Xbox network, skeletal tracking data when you use Kinect, and other sensor data, like the number of steps you take, when you use devices that have applicable sensors. And, if you use Spend, at your direction, we also collect financial transaction data from your credit card issuer to provide the service. If you attend an in-store event, we collect the data you provide to us when registering for or during the event and if you enter into a prize promotion, we collect the data you input into the entry form.

Content of your files and communication:

Content of your files and communications you input, upload, receive, create, and control. For example, if you transmit a file using Skype to another Skype user, we need to collect the content of that file to display it to you and the other user. If you receive an email using Outlook.com, we need to collect the content of that email to deliver it to your inbox, display it to you, enable you to reply to it, and store it for you until you choose to delete it. Other content we collect when providing products to you include:

• Communications, including audio, video, text (typed, inked, dictated, or otherwise), in a message, email, call, meeting request, or chat.
• Photos, images, songs, movies, software, and other media or documents you store, retrieve, or otherwise process with our cloud.

Video or recordings. Recordings of events and activities at Microsoft buildings, retail spaces, and other locations. If you enter Microsoft Store locations or other facilities, or attend a Microsoft event that is recorded, we may process your image and voice data.

Feedback and ratings. Information you provide to us and the content of messages you send to us, such as feedback, survey data, and product reviews you write.

Traffic data. Data generated through your use of Microsoft’s communications services. Traffic data indicates with whom you have communicated and when your communications occurred. We will process your traffic data only as required to provide, maintain, and improve our communications services and we do so with your consent.

In accordance with European Union Regulation (EU) 2021/1232, we have invoked the derogation permitted by that Regulation from Articles 5(1) and 6(1) of EU Directive 2002/58/EC. We use scanning technologies to create digital signatures (known as “hashes”) of certain images and video content on our systems.

These technologies then compare the hashes they generate with hashes of reported child sexual exploitation and abuse imagery (known as a “hash set”), in a process called “hash matching”. Microsoft obtains hash sets from organizations that act in the public interest against child sex abuse. This can result in sharing information with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and law enforcement authorities.

Protecting rights and property. We use data to detect and prevent fraud, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and protect our property. For example, we use data to confirm the validity of software licenses to reduce piracy. We may use automated processes to detect and prevent activities that violate our rights and the rights of others, such as fraud.

We also share data with Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries; with vendors working on our behalf; when required by law or to respond to legal process; to protect our customers; to protect lives; to maintain the security of our products; and to protect the rights and property of Microsoft and its customers.

Finally, we will retain, access, transfer, disclose, and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails in Outlook.com, or files in private folders on OneDrive), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to do any of the following:

• Comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies.
• Protect our customers, for example, to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of our products, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone.
• Operate and maintain the security of our products, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks.
• Protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services—however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer's private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement.

For more information about data we disclose in response to requests from law enforcement and other government agencies, please see our Law Enforcement Requests Report.

In some cases, your ability to access or control your personal data will be limited, as required or permitted by applicable law. How you can access or control your personal data will also depend on which products you use.

Read the whole Privacy statement here.

Security features:

Virtualization based security is on by default and it makes use of TPM 2.0 ( Trusted Platform Module ) for BitLockers Full-disk encryption, its a chip that was introduced in 2016. This chip generates and stores the actual encryption keys.

Basically it means that if someone pulls your harddrive, they won't be able to decrypt it without the TPM chip holding the keys. However if something should happen and the chip stops working, then what do you do?

Using BitLocker without a TPM chip, works, but is less secure and in order to bypass the chip requirement, you need to make a Group Policy change. If this is your own PC and it isn’t joined to a business domain or similar, then you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to change the setting. Otherwise you will need to contact your network administrator.

Gaming on Windows:

Windows 11 offers DirectX 12 Ultimate, which enables immersive graphics at high frame rates. DirectStorage for faster load times and more detailed game worlds and Auto HDR for a wider, more vivid range of colors.

Microsoft states that if you buy a new PC that carries the logo of DX12 Ultimate, it is guaranteed to support all next-generation graphics hardware features.

This includes:

• DirectX Raytracing 1.1
• Variable Rate Shading
• Mesh Shaders
• Sampler Feedback

All these features will ensure that your computer will be able to play next-generation games that depend on this.

Now does your graphic card support DirectX 12 Ultimate?

DirectX 12 Ultimate supported graphics cards:

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, 3080 (Ti), 3070 (Ti), 3060 (Ti), RTX 30/20 series laptops, TITAN RTX, 2080 (Ti), 2080 Super, 2070 (Ti), 2070 Super, 2060 and 2060 Super.

AMD RDNA 2:  AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 Series graphics cards.

Now besides the potential hardware issues you might face:

• During Windows 11 installation it expects you to log in with a Microsoft account before you even get to use it. They have removed the option of a local account in Windows11 Home Edition and will remove it from Windows11 Pro as well. There are a workaround, but it requires a fresh installation of Windows11 and that you are disconnected from the Internet. There are several ways to get around this: Reddit post.
• Not much of a taskbar.

Windows Home Edition and 11 Pro:

Minimum system requirements listed by Microsoft:

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device
• System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable
• TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.
• Graphics card:Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver.
• Display:High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per color channel.
• Internet connection and Microsoft account: For Windows 11 Home edition, which requires internet connectivity and a Microsoft account.
• Switching a device out of Windows 11 Home in S mode also requires internet connectivity.

For all Windows 11 editions, internet access is required to perform updates and to download and take advantage of some features.

Note: Additional requirements may apply over time and for updates.

A Microsoft account is required for some features.

Windows 11 Pro for Workstations: Supports up to 4 CPUs and 6TB of memory to rocket through demanding workloads.

IMPORTANT: I have left out some new features added in Windows11 that I just don't find interesting enough.

Seeing as our visitor statistics shows 31.3% Windows10 visitors and a 38,9% monthly Linux users. There must be an interest in Linux.

Be smart and change your Windows10/11 for LMDE5 or Debian 11. No tracking, No spying, no need for software piracy, there is a tool for everything you need, plus it gives you total and complete privacy, security and anonymity if used the right way.