Today is the official end of support date for Microsoft Windows 10. This does not mean that these computers will suddenly stop working, but if you take no action, it means that your computer has received the latest regular security updates and that Microsoft is washing its hands of technical support.
This end of support date occurs approximately ten years after the initial release of Windows 10, which is typical for most versions of Windows. But this comes just four years after Windows 10 was replaced by Windows 11, the version with more stringent system requirements As a result, many older but still functional PCs are left without an officially supported upgrade path. As a result, Windows 10 still runs on about 40 percent of Windows PCs in the world (or about a third of PCs in the US). according to StatCounter data.
But this end of support date is not set in stone either. Home users with Windows 10 PCs can sign up for Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which extends support for another year. We have published instructions on how to do this. Here— while you do need one of the Microsoft accounts the company always promotes, signing up for the ESU program for free is relatively easy.
Home users can only get a one-year grace period for Windows 10, but IT admins and other institutions with fleets of Windows 10 PCs can also pay for up to three years of ESU, which is also roughly how long users can expect new Microsoft Defender Antivirus updates and updates for core apps like Microsoft Edge.
Obviously, Microsoft's preferred upgrade path would be to either upgrade to Windows 11 for eligible PCs or upgrade to new PC which supports Windows 11. It is also still possible, at least for now, install and run Windows 11 on unsupported computers. Your daily experience will be overall be pretty gooddespite installing major annual Microsoft updates (e.g. upcoming Windows 11 25H2 update) may be a little painful. For new Windows 11 users, we will publish an update for our guide to cleaning Windows 11 coming soon—these steps will help minimize the extra cost and inconvenience that Microsoft has built into its latest OS.
