IT and Biscuits – Live demonstration of how to install Windows 11 on your laptop
Details
Come along to St Margaret’s House, 3rd Floor Workshop space (151 London Road, Edinburgh, EH7 6AE, +44 (0)131 661 1924, info@scot-art.co.uk), from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday June 28th 2026 for a workshop showing a live demonstration of how to install Windows 11 on your laptop. Bring along an item of food to put on the table and take away what is left at the end; free Artisan Roast coffee and Clipper Organic tea will be served.
### Title of talk:
IT and Biscuits: A live demonstration of how to install Windows 11 on your laptop
### Bullet points of what you would like to talk about:
- Resetting Windows 11 on an existing machine
- How to download Windows 11
- How to make an installation USB
- How to install Windows 11 on a Laptop without creating a Microsoft Account
- How to privacy harden Windows; configure settings and block telemetry
- How to debloat Windows; remove Copilot AI and other commercial features
- How to security harden Windows; install a VPN and antimalware
- How to install other programs on Linux mint
- A general conversation responding to questions about IT and personal computing
### A few paragraphs on your subject:
For decades now Microsoft Windows has been the dominant operating system in the world for personal computing. Many people are habituated to using it and dont want to change because of the familiarity they have with it. With the advent of Windows 11, there have been many updates which have either broken computers, made them run slow and/or allowed the mass collection of private data of the owner of the computer.
For people who do not want to change their operating system there are a number of things which improve the experience of using windows, improve the privacy by blocking unnecessary information being collected by Microsoft and other third party vendors, improve the speed of the hardware by reducing the demand on the processor, improve the security of the computer by removing Copilot artificial intelligence.
In short, Microsoft Windows has become a bloated piece of software which is designed to serve corporate companies targeting the PC owner as a source of data extraction and revenue collection. With forced redundancy and what the Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Freedom Foundation coined as the ‘Enshitification’ of existing working products, a movement of computer users have taken it on themselves to produce tools which shore up the failures which Microsoft is exporting into the lives of people.
In this workshop I am going to show a live demonstration of installing a fresh copy of Windows 11 onto a laptop before configuring the privacy settings, debloating it, blocking telemetry, removing all the copilot artificial intelligence and hardening its security. I will be answering questions during the session and it will be a conversational guide to managing and improving the Microsoft Windows operating system for those who want to stick with it but get the most out of their hardware.
### A few paragraphs about you:
I have been involved in a number of digital literacies teaching courses and have a personal interest in computer technologies which are private to the user, secure from hackers and fraudsters, and stable so that work does not get lost.
I also have a deep interest in the longevity of computer machines looking at ways of making sure my computers and other peoples computers last a long time and do not end up as e-waste through waves of inbuilt redundancy driven by unscrupulous multinationals.
Having been involved in education for many years now, I have been developing perspectives based around minimal resource computing and computing within limits which step away from the consumer frenzy of constant updates and the deliberate degradation of computer products so that a new wave of products can be sold.
For software and learning resources associated with this workshop, please visit: