Is Microsoft trying to push me to Apple?

[Tizeye]

They successfully did it in 2013 when upgraded laptop to the new Windows 8 failure that promptly returned to Best Buy and bought a MacBook Pro - my first Apple computer since the original Apple II. It runs great but upgrade was/is on the possibility list.

While the laptop was/is on the backburner...suddenly the desktop PC can't be ignored. When it suddenly won't load Photoshop due to "unsupported graphic card" it gets serious. Must have been a Widows upgrade that took it out, as no hardware changes and don't believe there was a recent Adobe pushed upgrade. I could ignore other issues - inability to upgrade to Windows 11 due to hardware, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome acting weird on certain sites and flip between them or Firefox to overcome issues. Tried upgrading the graphic driver and Windows says have most recent and on Nividia site noted the GTX 960 driver was last updated in 2018 and when tried to load that driver got the error message that my version of Windows 10 not supported. 

I personally built this desktop as a gaming level platform in 2016 with a Core I7, dedicated video supporting Adobe's usage of CUDA cores in video processing, as not really a gamer.

My choices are:

1) Defer rebuild/replacement with new video card to be used in rebuild (trash if replaced). Was shocked to see card beginning at $300 to over $1000!
2) Build new Windows 11 machine now. Actually, even reusing some parts it is cheaper to buy Dell or Lenovo but spec'd out with dedicated graphics was $1800 (with military discount)
3) Buy the recently upgraded Apple Studio (M1 Pro) for $1799 (applied military discount), but wait to see what they do with the less powerful but top end Mac Mini rumored to be announce in October, replacing the $999 Intel based Mini rumored with an M2 processor. Apple replaced the two lower end Mini's with the M1 (basic - not Pro or Max) last year but retained the Intel version. The Studio is a great machine with Final Cut Pro, and I have successfully dump Premiere Pro/Adobe Cloud with the exception of Photoshop/Lightroom.

[Palesaint]

Their website says the GTX 960 is supported for Windows 10:

https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84889/en-us/

Maybe google "clean nvidia driver uninstall" , do that, then reinstall. Last resort though, it looks like a pain to do.

[Airehead ★]

Isn’t that what happened to @Sofa_Loren?

[jdc2000]

You can probably fix the issue be downloading and saving the manufacturer's driver for the video card, and then reinstalling the driver.  You can then make some changes to prevent Microsoft driver "upgrades", and that should take care of the issue.

 

[Tizeye]

2 hours ago, Palesaint said:

Their website says the GTX 960 is supported for Windows 10:

https://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84889/en-us/

Maybe google "clean nvidia driver uninstall" , do that, then reinstall. Last resort though, it looks like a pain to do.

That one sort of did it. It linked to version 352.84 released 2015.5.15 where I earlier tried to download a 2018 update version 391.35. Figured would try a search again, after automatically reading my system (GTX 960, Win 10, 64 bit) identified version 517.48 dtd Sept 15, 2022. After downloading, saw the earlier download, and by file name was 32 bit - thus the reason for the invalid version of Windows. Works fine after loading 517.48, exclamation point in Device Manager disappeared and Photoshop launched. Problem resolves and can delay upgrade...but reading as 32 bit may be symptomatic of issues having with Edge and Chrome. Many times will get a non-load stall/freeze in Edge, shift to other browsers and problem resolves. Also, when streaming (data, not video), Chrome will stall and freeze, making it unusable with certain programs. The biggest issue with Edge and my TD Ameritrade account. I will go to place a limit order away from the market, and anytime during the process if the software updated the current market price (a good thing every 15 seconds or so) it suddenly changes my or to limit of the current market and if don't catch it in final review, when send it, suddenly filled. (Chrome freezes with the updated pricing so don't use it but Firefox does OK...if I remember to use it) Another example, on another forum I attempt to upload a photo and Edge becomes non-responsive - switch to Firefox and there the post assembled in Edge is ready to send with the attachment, and it goes.

Something is really messed up with the browsers! For reference, I have another desktop on the same desk I built solely for security cameras. Could get away from dedicated graphics as Blue Iris software recommended against it as was built designed for the on-motherboard Intel graphics with shared memory. But, being Windows 10, I can load Edge and it behaves like it should, holding the limit price on an order throughout the order setup process.