On Oct 14th 2025 Microsoft will stop providing security updates for Windows 10. (Ref.)
If your computer is not upgradable to Windows 11, these are your options:
Do nothing
Your Windows 10 computer will continue working but will be increasingly susceptible to malware attacks and the risk to your personal data will increase.
Purchase a new computer.
Windows 11 is halfway through the normal 10 year lifespan, which means that you might have to buy another computer in 2031. Alternatively you could buy an Apple computer or an Android tablet – probably with similar lifespan. Linux tends to provide support for the useful lifetime of the hardware (10-15 years).
Microsoft Extended Security Updates (ESU) program
You have to enrol in the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. This will be possible from July/August via Windows 10 Notifications and Settings
The full ESU can be extended for up to three years. It is not clear if this applies to the free options.
Option 1. Join the Microsoft Rewards program and earn enough points for extended Windows 10 support for one year. You will need to use Microsoft Edge on your desktop to make 10 searches a day using the Bing search engine. In 31 days you will have acquired 1000 points to give you extended Windows 10 support for one year.
Option 2. Purchase Microsoft 365. This will give entitlement to extended Windows 10 support for one year if Windows Backup is used. However, beware how you use Windows Backup.
Option 3. Pay Microsoft 30 USD for extended Windows 10 support for one year.
Extend the life of your current PC/laptop
Note that these two options require a clean install, not an upgrade to Windows 10.
Option 1. Force your PC to update to Windows 11.
This is available for reasonably recent computers. Depending on the computer it might be possible to upgrade from Windows 10, keeping programs and data but if that is not possible a clean install of Windows will be required. Although unsupported by Microsoft, this solution will probably continue working, with security updates, until the Year version of Windows e.g. 25Hxx, is no longer supported.
There is a risk that Microsoft will block this solution at some time, but JCC will be here to help! (Ref see option2)
Option 2. Install Linux
You can continue using your existing PC until the hardware becomes obsolete by doing a fresh install of any version of Linux. You will need to copy across your data and find alternatives for any programs that you use that are not in the Linux equivalent of the Playstore. Your PC will probably run faster than with Windows. Many distros (versions) of Linux claim to be “most like windows” but more importantly, they are also simple to use, with no commercial advertising or intrusive promotions, and if you don’t like a particular distro, changing to a different one is a simple task.
The choice is yours. JCC is here to help
Quick recap
- Various workarounds and options are available for MS Windows for the next one to six years.
- Linux can be used on most hardware until it becomes obsolete (10-15 years?). Alternatives can be found for most proprietary programs e.g. Adobe, Microsoft etc.
- A tablet might be the best alternative If you mostly surf the internet and do not need to create many documents.
- The Apple ecosphere is another alternative
Peter Bayliss
July 2025