Windows 10 End of Support: What to Do Now

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Ankit Kumar
Windows 10UpgradeMaintenance
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What "End of Support" Actually Means

Microsoft ended free support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. The PC still boots, your software still runs, and nothing was switched off. What stopped is the monthly flow of security patches.

That distinction matters. Every Patch Tuesday since then has closed holes in Windows 11 that are also present in Windows 10 and now stay open permanently. Attackers read those patch notes precisely because they describe, in detail, what is still exploitable on unpatched machines. The risk does not spike on day one; it compounds every month.

What you still get: Microsoft Defender definition updates continue for a period, and Microsoft Edge continues to receive browser updates for a while. Neither substitutes for OS patches.

Option 1: Upgrade to Windows 11 (Free, If Eligible)

The cleanest path, and it keeps your files and applications.

Check compatibility first

  1. Run Microsoft's PC Health Check app for a definitive answer.
  2. The two usual blockers are TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, and on a great many PCs they are present but switched off in firmware. Turn them on before concluding your machine is unsupported: enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for the Windows 11 upgrade.
  3. The other blocker is the CPU generation list—Intel 8th gen or newer, AMD Ryzen 2000 or newer. That one cannot be toggled.

Upgrade without losing data

  1. If eligible, Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update offers Windows 11 directly.
  2. If it does not appear, use the Windows 11 Installation Assistant from Microsoft.
  3. On ageing hardware a clean install of Windows 11 gives a noticeably better result—back up first.

Before you upgrade: back up (back up your PC with Windows Backup and File History), note your BitLocker recovery key, and check that any critical peripheral—printer, scanner, audio interface—has Windows 11 drivers.

Option 2: Extended Security Updates (ESU)

Microsoft offers Extended Security Updates for Windows 10: security-only patches, no features, no general support.

  • Consumers can enrol through Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update if the option appears for the device, either free by syncing settings to a Microsoft account or for a modest one-off fee, depending on your region.
  • Businesses buy it per device, per year, at a price that rises each year specifically to discourage staying.

Treat ESU as a bridge with a known expiry, not a destination. Put the end date in your calendar the day you enrol.

Option 3: New Hardware

Machines that fail the CPU requirement are typically six or more years old. If yours is also slow, noisy, or on its second battery, replacement often costs less than the time spent fighting it.

Before you spend, check whether an upgrade would do: the best PC upgrades to speed up an old computer. An SSD and 16 GB of RAM transform a 2018 machine—but they do not make it eligible for Windows 11.

Option 4: Install Windows 11 on Unsupported Hardware

It is technically possible to bypass the TPM and CPU checks. Microsoft's position is that such devices are not entitled to updates and may not receive them, and there is no support if something breaks.

It is a reasonable choice for a secondary machine where the alternative is an unpatched OS. It is a poor choice for the PC that handles your email and banking. Weigh it properly: install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC.

Option 5: Staying on Windows 10 Safely (Short Term)

If you must stay for now, reduce the exposure:

  1. Keep Microsoft Defender and the firewall on.
  2. Use a browser that is still receiving updates, and keep it updated. Most real-world attacks arrive through the browser.
  3. Run as a standard user rather than an administrator.
  4. Back up on a schedule, with one copy offline: set up automatic backups.
  5. Turn on DNS filtering to block malicious domains before they load.
  6. Never use the PC for banking or work email if you can avoid it.

Option 6: Something Other Than Windows

For a machine used mainly for browsing, email, and documents, a lightweight Linux distribution or ChromeOS Flex runs well on hardware Windows 11 rejects and keeps receiving security updates. It is a real option for a second PC, a family machine, or a laptop that would otherwise be recycled.

The Bottom Line

Upgrade to Windows 11 if the hardware allows it. Use ESU as a dated bridge if it does not. Do not leave an unpatched, unsupported PC on the internet indefinitely doing anything that matters. Whichever route you take, back up first.

Cleaning up before you upgrade? Speed up a slow Windows PC so the upgrade runs on a tidy system, and free up disk space—the upgrade needs about 20 GB.

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