by Daniel Dunne

No, Windows 10 is not RIP – just yet!

Late last week, Microsoft began to push out notifications to some laptop and PC users informing them that Windows 10 will soon reach end of support. This notification goes on to explain that Microsoft will no longer provide monthly updates beyond October 14th, 2025. The reason for this is that – believe it or not, Windows 10 will be a decade old then! You might consider Windows 11 as ‘a new kid on the block’ but that too has been around for a few years having been released just before Christmas back in 2021!

To be fair to Microsoft, they really did work on Windows 10 with no less than thirteen big updates to the Operating System (OS) over the last eight years or so. A sizable number of users even got their copy of Windows 10 as a free upgrade from Windows 8 back in 2016, so it has been a very generous offering from Microsoft to be fair. Not often praise gets heaped on a big corporate, so screenshot this article for posterity!

What will happen after October 14th, 2025 – or should we call it “W10-Day”? Don’t worry too much, your PC or Laptop will still turn on and load up the Windows 10 desktop as it does today. Your files will be still there, and all your programmes and Apps will work just as before. Beyond W10-Day though, Windows 10 will not be getting any more updates. As time goes on from Oct 2025 this becomes an increasingly big security issue because as new vulnerabilities in Windows are discovered they are quite unlikely to be fixed for Windows 10. If you insist on using Windows 10 well beyond the W10-Day, it is strongly advised to get very good Anti-Virus/Security Software.

Some big employers using Windows 10 on their office computers will have a paid support contract from Microsoft and those PCs and laptops will still get updates beyond W10-Day. For the ordinary home user and typical small business owner, it’s a different story though. Depending on the age and or hardware capabilities of your existing Windows 10 machine it may not be possible to upgrade it to Windows 11.

What are my options? Some laptops and PCs running Windows 10 may have an offer for a free upgrade to Windows 11, so check your Windows Update to see if you got the offer. If not, it might be a good idea at that point in time to consider moving to a machine running Windows 11 or holding out a bit to see if Windows 12 machines are available. Rumour has it that Windows 12 might be announced by Microsoft in the next five to fifteen months. Watch this space!