For two weeks, everything worked perfectly. Alex monitored his system like a hawk. He used AI Suite’s TurboV EVO to apply a mild overclock. He used EPU to save power when idle. He felt like a wizard.

Version: 3.00.36 Size: 894.7 MB Date: 2022-10-14

The installer launched—an old-school wizard with pixelated gradients and a progress bar that moved in jerks, like a car with a failing transmission. It asked for his permission to install "ASUS Framework Service." He clicked Yes.

After twenty minutes of the progress bar stalling at 87% (it always stalls at 87%), the installer finished. It demanded a restart.

He clicked. The page loaded slowly, as if it were remembering the early internet. He navigated to Driver & Utility , selected Windows 11 from the dropdown, and there it was, nestled between the LAN drivers and the SATA utilities: