E-waste is about to get much worse.

With the release of Windows 11, there has been a lot of negative talk regarding Windows 10's 2025 end-of-life. However, we must first decide what to do with a large amount of computer hardware that is incompatible with Windows 11 between now and 2025.

To make sure we're running secure systems, I along with many other Windows users in similar circumstances will probably need to buy new hardware for every computer that won't run Windows 11 over the course of the next four years. It is not advised to keep outdated hardware and use it without patches.

Because of that we will generate a huge number of electronic waste that comes in many forms, and dealing with it is a nightmare.

A local TV station used to purchase used hard drives from local swap meets a few years ago, then demonstrate how simple it was to locate sensitive data that had been left over. To make sure that outdated data cannot be recovered, you should make sure you either physically destroy the hard drives or rewrite over the top of the drives.

Next, we must consider the possibility that each computer we send to an electronic waste facility produces toxic waste. These startling figures on the effects of electronic waste are from the World Counts website:

• 40 million tons of electronic waste is generated every year.

• 12.5% of E-waste is recycled

Now consider the numbers after Microsoft cuts support for Windows 10.