Tag: Trusted Platform Module

What is a TPM and why do you need to know you have one?

Paul
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Trusted Platform Module

Everything about TPM screams security and ominous, some would call it.   I am sure everyone is thinking about this and wondering, why Microsoft is doing this.   We’ve heard them say it is  a requirement and thus far it seems to be a sure as gold that it will be a necessity to be able to upgrade to Windows 11.   So what is a TPM.  According to Wikipedia,

“[TPM] is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys”

In other words, it basically is a hard encryptions and not a software encryption in your system.   If you have bitlocker without TPM, than your system has to decrypt and encrypt files on the fly and slow your system down.   If you had a TPM onboard it would be much faster and much safer because there would be no way a Man in the Middle attack could work, not saying it will never happen but I think it is far less likely.

Windows 11 Requirement

If you haven’t figure out if you have it on your motherboard.   There are several websites where they talk about how to find out if you already have a TPM on your Motherboard.  The real problem is if you haven’t no TPM and would like to be able to install Windows 11 on your computer.   There are several options you can do.   I’ll list them for you:

  • Install a Motherboard that has TPM
  • Check to see if you can Enable TPM on your current Motherboard
  • Install a TPM chip to be able to use Windows 11. Check out my Affiliate link if you need one!
  • Keep Windows 10 until the end of life which will be Year October 2025.

Scalpers a plenty

Scalping has seen an increase all over the net.   When Microsoft, released the information needed to upgrade to Windows 11.  It seemed to bring out the people who will charge even more than what you should be paying for it.   Obviously they did the same thing with Graphics Unit Processors in the past, they seemed to do the same thing with TPM Chips to install on Motherboards and other such systems.   I’m seeing more places that it cost more than you’d paid normally for a chip.   So that is  problem now with people wanting to get ready for Windows 11, there seems to be more people trying to make a buck out of this.  In the end, they will get out of trying to make a buck because the demand will drop and we won’t have to worry about this anymore.