Why is Microsoft warning Windows users not to update their PCs?

The confusion around Microsoft updates still prevails. Just as Microsoft releases the last Patch of 2024 with a new zero-day amongst 71 vulnerabilities, the tech giant has also warned 400 million users they risk losing access to future security fixes if they update their PCs.

A week ago, Microsoft had apparently shut down avenues to moving to Windows 11 on PCs that didn’t meet the TPM 2.0 hardware hurdle.

“With Windows 10 end of support approaching,” it said, “it’s important to revisit a key minimum system requirement for Windows 11: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.”

But then the company almost immediately appeared to reverse its course, and opened the door to updates on machines that don’t meet a hurdle it describes as “a necessity.”

As per a report, “Microsoft is now allowing Windows 11 on older, incompatible PCs. Despite years of warning, not even a week ago, Microsoft doubled down on its policy that requires PCs to have TPM 2.0-compatible hardware in order to install Windows 11. But now, in an unexpected and puzzling move, the company is issuing instructions for installing Windows 11 on incompatible PCs.”

This may appear to be a serious shift in policy, which will affect the 400 million Windows users whose PCs do not meet the minimum threshold and prevent “the single largest surge in junked computers in history, with dire consequences for both consumers and the environment.”