When Windows 10 support runs out, you have 5 options but only 2 are worth considering

Microsoft will officially end support for its most popular operating system in October 2025. Here's what you should do with your Windows 10 PCs before that day arrives.

In less than two years, Microsoft will draw the final curtain on Windows 10 after a successful 10-year run.

That news shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The end date is right there on the Microsoft Support document that lists "products retiring or reaching the end of support in 2025." The schedule is defined by Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy: "Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025. The current version, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will remain in support with monthly security update releases through that date."

When a Windows version reaches its end-of-support date, the software keeps working, but the update channel grinds to a halt:

There will be no new security updates, non-security updates, or assisted support. Customers are encouraged to migrate to the latest version of the product or service. Paid programs may be available for applicable products.

That part in the middle sounds encouraging, doesn't it? "Customers are encouraged to migrate to the latest version of the product or service." Unfortunately, that's not a supported option for customers running Windows 10 on hardware that doesn't meet the stringent hardware compatibility requirements of Windows 11. If you try to upgrade one of those PCs to Windows 11, you'll encounter an error message. And Microsoft is adamant that it will not extend the support deadline for Windows 10.

I should have clarified that although your “hatred” of Microsoft sounds silly, many others feel the same way.

People who hate Microsoft fall into many categories. The most common are people who don’t know much about computers and have difficulties because even though they use them for simple tasks such as email, web browsing, and word processing they never bother to spend even a little time learning the basics.

Then you have people who are not really very computer savvy but somehow managed to get one of the flavors of Linux working on one or more of their computers. They often like to brag about how they hate Microsoft and use Linux instead. They feel that this makes them seem smarter and more sophisticated than the average computer user who makes do with the operating system that the manufacturer was given for free by Microsoft in exchange for installing a bunch of maddening bloatware.

Of course, we should never forget Apple users who in an effort to avoid frustration were willing to pay twice as much for a pretty little device with half the memory and processing power. And because their hardware and software choices are very limited, they usually have less trouble.

Then we get to people like you who know computers and know when the computer should be able to do something but cannot because of poor software design, etc... You have perfectly valid reasons for despising Microsoft who has inexplicably not fixed their products but managed to drive companies with better products out of business or bought them out and discontinued the superior product. I can think of dozens of examples. I don’t blame you a bit.

I can’t tell you how many boxes of software that I have saved with titles that no longer work on the latest 64bit versions of Windows. (I already mentioned in this thread that I was a computer software and hardware hoarder.) Fortunately, sometimes the superior products are still available through various legitimate channels.

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