News

Windows 11 Won’t Support Many Modern PCs – Is Yours Among Them?

Users whose PCs don’t meet the system requirements can continue to use Windows 10, whose official support ends October 2025.

Published

5 years ago

June 30, 2021

Joanna Melki

windows 11 won't support many modern pcs is yours among them

Microsoft has officially unveiled the next-generation version of its operating system, called Windows 11. In addition to a brand-new look, Windows 11 introduces a whole host of productivity improvements, including new ways to manage applications, support for widgets, and the integration of Microsoft Teams into the taskbar.

The only problem is that many Windows 10 users may not be able to upgrade to Windows 11 — even if their PCs are just a few years old. Why? Because they don’t meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements:

Windows 11 System Requirements

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
Graphics Card: DirectX 12 compatible graphics / WDDM 2.x
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage: 64 GB or larger storage device
TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0

If your motherboard is equipped with a TPM module, then the Windows 11 system requirements probably don’t seem too strict to you. Well, that’s because you don’t know that Microsoft is officially supporting only a relatively small number of Intel and AMD processors, regardless of how powerful they are.

For example, Intel processors compatible with Windows 11 date back to only mid-2017. The situation is even worse when it comes to AMD processor, whose support start with 2nd gen Ryzen (2018). Microsoft has decided to take this drastic step to deliver the most secure and stable Windows experience possible.

Also Read: Microsoft To Finally Retire Internet Explorer In 2022

You can verify if your PC meets the minimum system requirements using the official PC Health Check app (not available at the time of writing this article because Microsoft has decided to temporarily remove it).

Users whose PCs don’t meet the system requirements can continue to use Windows 10, whose official support ends October 2025. While Microsoft still hasn’t announced an official release date for the next version of Windows, recent reports indicate that date will most probably be October 20, 2021.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.