StDragon

lol, so Laptron was generating with a keygen?! Yeah, those are very version specific. So the algo gets rotated upon the next version release so only legit keys work, and the pirated ones from the keygen program are invalid. This cat-and-mouse game is very common in the software world that uses activation keys.

There was old issue with AMD systems and USB (Zen 3 and older). A BIOS update will fix that. However, the stuttering could still be cause by a failing piece of hardware throwing an interrupt storm to the CPU. Thermal, power, and a component failure are usually what causes this. A failing HDD or SSD can do that, and usually you'll find a bunch of drive errors in the Windows System event log. As for a program that can help you track down the issue, the only good one that I know of is Latencymon; link below. https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

Who knows, maybe in Windows 12 they will remove Edge. Because the new way will be browsing from the Explorer.exe search bar. Why have a separate browser when it's part of the OS?

If you have a legit activation for Windows 10, then it should carry over to 11. I've never see it otherwise fail. Thought you do have to link your Windows 10 product activation to your Microsoft account first. So that means if you're logging into Windows 10 with a local account, you'll need to convert that to an online account so the activation syncs to the cloud at https://account.microsoft.com/. Once done, you'll see your computer listed under 'Devices' on the left side menu of the MS account portal. As an extra precaution to keeping your license, I recommend upgrading Windows 10 to Windows 11 after you've completed the above step first. Then later you can format and reinstall. Once you sign into Windows 11 for the first time with your MS account, activation should carry over. Detailed info and instructions on how to link Windows activation status to your MS account below. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/activate-windows-c39005d4-95ee-b91e-b399-2820fda32227

Upgrades don't typically break things badly, specifically when going from Win10 22H2 to Win11 23H2. But you will find oddities of certain things not working as expected or outright missing in registry. Windows 11 24H2 this fall is going to be the "big one". A relatively mature and rock solid OS now, but with additional enhancements and features. For this, I recommend a clean format and install. That's exactly what I plan on doing too.

From a policy (Local or GPO): Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Data Collection and Preview Builds. One in specific is called "Allow Diagnostic Data". Once you enable this object, from there you can turn diagnostic data off. And yes, you have to enable so that you can unhide the option in order to change the behavior of this item. (Strange concept to enable to disable, but that's always been that way with GPOs) If you want, you can block via DNS with the listed records listed here. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/configure-windows-diagnostic-data-in-your-organization#manage-diagnostic-data-using-group-policy-and-mdm Also, here's a link specifically about managing telemetry via GPO and MDM. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/configure-windows-diagnostic-data-in-your-organization#manage-diagnostic-data-using-group-policy-and-mdm FYI, GPOs just control the registry in their own way. But at the end of the day, they're all registry changes and enforcement to those changes. If you prefer, you can do this manually using a 3rd part UI app called O&O ShutUp10++ as it can provide more granular control. The toggle switches are just UI way of changing the corresponding reg values in the background.

This is a non-issue. You can still change the default browser in the Windows Settings UI. Alternatively, setting by GPO should work as that's also an official method for deploying and enforcing OS level changes throughout an enterprise network. Remember, there are many ways to hack and modify Windows; and then there's the official "Microsoft way". MS is limiting to just their way, but there still is a way to change the browser defaults nonetheless.

lol, maybe that's the solution I've been looking for: just don't connect the damn TV to the internet... at all! Guess I can have my "Dumb TV" after all

Just to make my position on this more clear. In a **perfect world, I'm not opposed to an official ID. However, there's three outstanding problems I take issue with. When the SSN was debated in Congress, it was forewarned it would be used carelessly and abused. This turned out to be correct. SSN are being exposed with regards to how Personal Identifiable Information (PII) gets secured; or the lack thereof. It rewards false intentions, if not outright lies when being legislated by our elected officials. This is a moral hazard where the ends don't justify the means. If there's going to be a national ID, there needs to be stricter regulations with how this is applied, accessed, and stored. Though it's a bit late when over 143 MILLION records have been exposed from one of the three largest CRAs (in this case, Equifax). **We don't live in a perfect world, so I'm exceedingly skeptical that this wouldn't be abused; either willfully or through negligence. Identity theft is a big deal. I quote SSA.gov in bold per the PDF linked above from page 1. "We don’t give your number to anyone, except when authorized by law. You should be careful about sharing your number, even when you’re asked for it." Uh huh, about that...

^ LOL, you just described the US Gov. The SSN is one giant moving goalpost in terms of scope-creep. How We Got Social Security Numbers | HISTORY

You're missing the entire point. The SSN was never meant to be a primary form of identification. But now it has. "The Social Security number (SSN) was created in 1936 for the sole purpose of tracking the earnings histories of U.S. workers, for use in determining Social Security benefit entitlement and computing benefit levels. Since then, use of the SSN has expanded substantially. Today the SSN may be the most commonly used numbering system in the United States. As of December 2008, the Social Security Administration (SSA) had issued over 450 million original SSNs, and nearly every legal resident of the United States had one. The SSN's very universality has led to its adoption throughout government and the private sector as a chief means of identifying and gathering information about an individual. How did the SSN come to be, and why has it become an unofficial national identifier? This article explores the history and meaning of the SSN and the Social Security card..." https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v69n2/v69n2p55.html

100% agreed. You should have a government ID, but it should never be used for tracking outside of finance and government. And yes, I'm in favor of anonymity and pseudonyms. Once everything is tied to a RealID, it will take milliseconds for an AI to data-mine and profile you based on everything tied to it. In fact, over time it would probably know you better than you know yourself.

That's correct. Also correct, however keep in mind that the NPUs use significantly less power. So probably not much of an increase in battery usage (but it would be a measurable consumption). The LMM of Siri would be small and complex enough to perform local tasks within the phone. Think of Siri being the same, but with common sense. It's probably trained so that if it can't answer your question appropriately based on the locality of data, it will just forward it to the cloud to a much larger GPT. To the user, it will seem like one seamless operation regardless of the bifurcation between local and cloud based LLMs.

It was a very smart move to sell. They got the biggest payout from Apple than they would otherwise have gotten going at it alone. There's nothing special about what they've done. The only reason Apple bought them is to get a head-start. Google and Huawei will be doing the same thing with their phones too.

That's very unfortunate. It's been awhile since I've purchased a TV, but all I want is the basics in software features. I want the TV to have a quality image, with only a tuner inside for over-the-air broadcasting. All other input would be over HDMI with the intelligence only with the boxes delivering the content (Apple TV, Consoles, etc). I don't want adverts inserted, or my TV spying on me with telemetry uploaded.