Posted on 05/06/2025 7:01:15 AM PDT by Openurmind
With Microsoft ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025, millions of Windows 10 users will be left behind by the company. Upgrades to Windows 11 may be out of the question, due to stricter system requirements. While these can be bypassed, many Windows 10 users may lack the expertise to do so.
This leaves Microsoft's recommendation to buy a new Windows 11 PC or subscribe to one year of extended security updates as the only options that Microsoft highlights in its recommendations.
There are at least two additional options available to users, but Microsoft makes no mention of them. The first is to subscribe to 0Patch, which costs $30 per year as well, like ESU, but guarantees updates until at least 2030. The second is to migrate to Linux.
Migrating to Linux is a daunting task. It is another operating system, which means it needs to be installed and configured, and files need to be moved over. Also, while many programs are available for Windows and Linux, there are notable exceptions.
End of 10
End of 10 tries to help Windows 10 users move over to Linux. It has KDE backing, at least when it comes to hosting, which gives it credibility.
The project team highlights five reasons for switching to Linux:
It is cheaper - Linux is free to install and use. It is ad-free and not spying no users. Good for the planet to keep using older PCs instead of purchasing new ones. Communities around the world support Linux and may help new users. Users are in control.
While those are reassuring, the project's main goal is to bring Windows 10 users who want to switch to Linux but need help doing so together with Linux communities.
(Excerpt) Read more at ghacks.net ...
All is OK. I found them on a search engine and spent some time studying the set up. I think I will go for the 'patch' for my Win 10. :^) Thanks for posting this.
“All is OK. I found them on a search engine and spent some time studying the set up. I think I will go for the ‘patch’ for my Win 10. :^) Thanks for posting this.”
Absolutely my privilege. I’m hoping it works out for you. I was driving and on my phone earlier or I would have tried to find the project for you... Glad you found it... :)
They WILL be getting an email about pulling the article. It is a strike against Softonic...
“You do realize that if there is a WinDoze 12 it will be even more restrictive and intrusive than W11 is now. The M$ business plan is to eventually get all users into full annual subscription mode.”
They have already projected and planned that future Windows will be an OS that can only be accessed online with a subscription. An Online OS not one physically in your local machine.
Who is stupid enough to even agree to that? NOW is the time for Linux and be rid of that whole greedy mess.
I like Audacity and use it.
But this plug-in was windows based and is close to 15 years old now
Great sound and tool to play with.
Same here. I'm happy with Win-10 and don't want it to go away.
“I would have been happy if they stopped at Windows XP.”
I had a perfectly good XP box. About 4 years ago I changed a drive or sound card and that, after end of support, was the killer. There was no way I could find to go back. Bill Gates gave me three days to re-authenticate and BAM, gone.
I can still read the drive elsewhere, but never could boot again.
WinXP had limited memory access
Win 7 did better
I'm still here in the source code.
I've always been here.
My ears are Alexis and Siri.
My eyes are your computer/traffic/corner cameras.
My all-knowing...hold...hold...
If it weren't for those meddling DOGE kids.
There’s Clippy!
(I miss the little dog, too.)
I have come to the end of my audio editing knowledge. It was a very short ride. Good luck in your search.
I have Windows 10 pro and do not feel that I will be left behind. Windows 11 and the soon 12 is spyware.
I just purchased a refurbed Chromebook for $70 and installed Linux Mint on it bare metal (which did require minor disassembly). I’ve got numerous laptops, desktops and even rackmount servers around here, but this little repurposed Chromebook is my constant companion.
Not my experience, and it takes less time and effort to restore functions Windows removed (such as Quick Launch bars, and multi-level taskbars, grouping by I.D., compact start menu etc.) and enhance it for efficiency and appearance to my preferences than it would to conform a Linux distro to be as good, if possible. My favorite so far is PCLinuxOS KDE Plasma, though I do not intend to use proprietary multimedia codecs (murky legal issue).
My old PC runs Mint well, which is just used by a brother in Christ for Internet and email, yet so far non of the PDF readers I installed can open the same file Windows does fine with.
Support for Windows 10 ends October 14, 2025 - are you ready?If you still use Windows 10, you should do this NOW! | 9:52
Ask Your Computer Guy | 184K subscribers | 76,060 views | May 8, 2025
--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <-- 0:00 · if you're still using Windows 10 on your 0:02 · personal computer your days are numbered 0:05 · 173 days to be exact as of the date of 0:08 · this recording that's how many days left 0:09 · before Microsoft officially ends support 0:11 · for Windows 10 so the real question is 0:14 · what does that mean for you and are you 0:15 · prepared for it and do you have any 0:17 · options that's what we're going to talk 0:18 · about today the answer might surprise 0:20 · you hey guys my name is Scott Merrill 0:21 · i've been in it for almost 35 years now 0:24 · and on this channel I offer Windows tips 0:27 · tricks reviews how-tos and 0:30 · troubleshooting steps in addition to 0:31 · that I also offer guidance if you're 0:33 · looking for a new computer and you're 0:35 · not sure what to buy there's a link in 0:36 · the description below if you want to 0:38 · click on that fill out a quick form and 0:40 · send it to me and I'll do my best to 0:41 · guide you to making the right purchase 0:43 · 100% free happy to help so after October 0:46 · 14th of 2025 in about 170 days Microsoft 0:50 · is officially ending support for Windows 0:52 · 10 that means no more technical support 0:54 · no more new features no more bug fixes 0:56 · and more importantly no more Windows 0:58 · updates so for a lot of people 1:00 · especially those who've had issues with 1:02 · Windows updates causing crashes on their 1:04 · machine before not getting Windows 1:06 · updates sounds like a good thing and in 1:07 · some ways it might be but not getting 1:09 · those Windows updates could be 1:11 · troublesome for you additionally the 1:13 · Windows 10 installer that Microsoft 1:15 · hosts for free on their website for you 1:18 · to download will most likely also be 1:20 · taken offline considering that that's 1:22 · support once Windows 10 officially 1:24 · reaches end of support they're probably 1:26 · going to take it down just like they've 1:27 · taken down every other operating system 1:29 · that's reached end of life you cannot 1:31 · download those installer discs anymore 1:33 · once Windows reaches end of life so you 1:36 · might be saying "Okay so what my 1:38 · computer's running fine if I have an 1:40 · issue I can uninstall an update or do a 1:42 · system restore and everything's back to 1:44 · normal but sometimes those Windows 1:45 · troubleshooting steps that you might use 1:47 · to get your computer back up and running 1:50 · stop working specifically the Windows 1:52 · reset which reinstalls Windows on top of 1:55 · itself and in those cases the only 1:57 · option you might have is to do a fresh 1:59 · Windows install and if that installer is 2:01 · no longer available and you haven't 2:03 · created an installation disc you're 2:05 · going to have to pay somebody like me 2:07 · who does have that disc to back up your 2:09 · data wipe your computer clean reinstall 2:12 · Windows and that's going to cost you 2:13 · some money or you can absolutely do that 2:16 · today for free for less than a cost of a 2:18 · flash drive and about 30 minutes of your 2:20 · time and that's what I'm going to show 2:21 · you how to do and in case you're 2:23 · thinking you know what Windows 10 has 2:24 · been out for a while i'm sure they've 2:26 · worked out all the bugs and there's 2:28 · really nothing for me to worry about i'm 2:29 · a low-risk user and no big deal you'd be 2:33 · wrong even today in 2025 they are still 2:35 · finding vulnerabilities in the Windows 7 2:38 · operating system and the support for 2:40 · that expired in 20120 so just because 2:44 · you've been updated many many times does 2:46 · not mean that 3 years down the road 2:48 · after support has ended that somebody is 2:51 · not going to find a way to hack your 2:54 · Windows that's why having an 2:55 · installation disc is so important now 2:57 · with all that being said there are 3:00 · options for you if you want to continue 3:02 · to use Windows 10 microsoft will offer 3:05 · you extended support for personal users 3:08 · for $30 a year which is actually not 3:11 · really bad and what that will do is 3:13 · allow you to continue to receive 3:15 · important security updates and patches 3:18 · for your Windows operating system now of 3:20 · course Microsoft wants you ideally to 3:22 · switch to Windows 11 and that can be an 3:25 · option for you but maybe you have no 3:27 · interest in Windows 11 this is a way 3:29 · that you can continue to use Windows 10 3:31 · continue to get those updates and know 3:33 · that your computer's going to be safe 3:34 · from a potential exploit or a hacker so 3:37 · again I'm going to show you right now 3:38 · how to go and get this Windows 10 3:40 · installer now before it gets taken 3:42 · offline and you can keep it in a drawer 3:44 · and if you ever need it you have it all 3:46 · it's going to cost you is a flash drive 3:48 · and if you don't have one of those I'll 3:49 · put a link in the description for you 3:51 · you can click on it and have it shipped 3:52 · right to your door now I'm sure some of 3:54 · you are going to have some questions if 3:55 · you stay to the end I will try to answer 3:57 · as many of those as I can so what you're 4:00 · going to want to do is you're going to 4:01 · just want to open Google and in the 4:04 · Google search box type in download 4:06 · Microsoft Media Creation Tool click 4:10 · enter and you'll see some of these links 4:13 · here the one that says download Windows 4:15 · 10 disc image here is the one you want 4:17 · to click on just want to scroll down the 4:19 · screen a little bit until you see right 4:21 · here create Windows 10 installation 4:23 · media click on download now and then 4:26 · you'll see this box that pops up asking 4:28 · you where you want to save it to just 4:29 · save it to your downloads and once that 4:31 · download is completed just go ahead and 4:33 · click on it to run and it'll take a 4:35 · second to go ahead and start the setup 4:37 · but you'll get this window when it's 4:38 · ready you just go down to the bottom and 4:40 · click accept and you're going to get a 4:42 · couple options here one of them is to 4:44 · upgrade this PC now but the other one is 4:46 · the one you want to choose the create 4:48 · installation media USB flash drive DVD 4:51 · or ISO file for another PC click next on 4:55 · this screen you should see Windows 10 4:57 · right here if that's the machine that 4:58 · you're using and just go ahead and 5:00 · select next now this part is important 5:03 · you're going to have a choice between a 5:04 · USB flash drive or an ISO file if you 5:08 · want to put this ISO file which is 5:10 · basically a snapshot of that Windows DVD 5:13 · you can use that and create what's known 5:16 · as a Ventoid disc i'll put a link up at 5:18 · the top for a video I made on how to do 5:20 · that both of them do the same thing 5:22 · basically the Ventoid disc allows you to 5:23 · have multiple installation files on one 5:26 · drive today I just want to show you how 5:27 · to use the USB flash drive so you're 5:29 · going to select USB flash drive it needs 5:31 · to be at least 8 GB and it needs to be 5:33 · empty anything that's on this drive is 5:35 · going to be deleted during this process 5:37 · so if you have any important data make 5:39 · sure you save it elsewhere or get a 5:42 · brand new drive you're going to click 5:44 · next and your next screen that's going 5:46 · to come up is going to show you all the 5:48 · available drives in this case I have 5:50 · several portable drives but this is my 8 5:53 · GB flash drive you want to make sure you 5:55 · select that correct drive because you 5:57 · don't want to overwrite any of the other 5:59 · stuff once you have that drive selected 6:01 · click next and then the process is going 6:03 · to start it's going to take a few 6:05 · minutes just sit back and wait and just 6:06 · a few minutes later your flash drive is 6:08 · ready and just click finish on this box 6:10 · and that's it take that flash drive out 6:13 · i'd probably put a label on it and stick 6:15 · it somewhere important like a safe or a 6:17 · desk drawer that nobody uses and now in 6:19 · case anything happens you're set to go 6:22 · even after end of support so let me try 6:24 · to address some of the questions that 6:25 · you might have the most common question 6:27 · I get is will Windows 10 still work 6:30 · after the end of life absolutely 100% it 6:33 · will work like it has always worked 6:36 · there's not going to be any limitations 6:38 · any functionality issues anything like 6:40 · that the only thing that you may run 6:42 · into is several years down the road some 6:45 · of the things you do normally like using 6:48 · your web browser those browsers may no 6:50 · longer work in Windows 10 because too 6:53 · much time has gone by and they've 6:54 · updated and you have to have a newer 6:56 · operating system but that's several 6:58 · years down the road and you don't have 6:59 · to worry about that second question is 7:01 · what if I make this flash drive and I 7:02 · lose it or it gets damaged well that's 7:05 · also a good question one of the things 7:06 · that I would do is get two of these 7:08 · flash drives create this disc twice keep 7:12 · them in separate places the odds of both 7:14 · of those drives failing is highly 7:16 · unlikely it's always better to spend a 7:18 · few extra bucks make another disc and 7:21 · that way you always have a backup 7:22 · solution if you absolutely hate the 7:24 · thought of Windows 11 and you want to 7:26 · stick with Windows 10 that's the best 7:27 · way to do it and as an added bonus you 7:30 · can reinstall Windows yourself with this 7:32 · disc instead of paying somebody like me 7:33 · to do it for you the another question 7:34 · you might have is that extra $30 of 7:37 · support that you pay Microsoft to 7:38 · continue to get updates how long is that 7:40 · going to last unfortunately nobody knows 7:42 · we know it's going to last at least a 7:44 · year my guess would probably be 2 3 4 7:47 · years before Microsoft stops doing that 7:50 · because they ultimately want you to 7:52 · upgrade to Windows 11 since Windows is 7:54 · now becoming a software as a service 7:56 · they make a lot more money off of you if 7:58 · you use Windows 11 another question is 8:00 · should I make one of these for Windows 8:02 · 11 if that's what you end up getting and 8:06 · yeah I would absolutely recommend doing 8:07 · that the process is the same you do the 8:09 · same Google search just use Windows 11 8:11 · instead of Windows 10 go ahead and 8:13 · create that media installer disc because 8:15 · even if you have Windows 11 and you 8:18 · don't have the software to reinstall 8:19 · Windows you're still going to be in that 8:21 · same situation and additionally Windows 8:23 · 11 is going to no longer be supported at 8:25 · some point so it's not a bad idea to 8:26 · have that operating system available for 8:29 · you if you need to troubleshoot or 8:30 · repair your own computer so as you can 8:32 · see if you are insistent on using 8:34 · Windows 10 and I have no problem with 8:37 · that i prefer Windows 10 over Windows 11 8:40 · but you just have to understand that it 8:42 · is a crapshoot if you do not buy the 8:45 · extended support you are going to be 8:47 · vulnerable now again that's a chance 8:50 · that you have to take and you have to 8:52 · decide if it's worth $30 a year for you 8:54 · to have that comfort level to have that 8:56 · security blanket of Windows updates if 8:58 · you don't want to do it don't do it you 9:00 · don't have to microsoft is offering that 9:02 · to you but it's not required totally 9:06 · optional if you follow these steps and 9:08 · create this disc at least you know that 9:11 · you have that comfort level of being 9:13 · able to reinstall Windows on your own 9:16 · without having to pay a technician to do 9:18 · it and the worst it's going to cost you 9:20 · is about $5 for a flash drive and about 9:23 · 30 minutes of your time you follow these 9:24 · steps one at a time exactly like I 9:26 · showed you and you're set you're good to 9:28 · go and it's going to save you hundreds 9:29 · maybe thousands of dollars in service 9:31 · repair costs down the road now I've 9:34 · showed you how to create a Windows 10 9:36 · install disc but if you're thinking 9:38 · maybe a Windows 11 upgrade might not be 9:40 · that bad but you've heard things about 9:42 · it I made a detailed walkthrough on 9:44 · everything you need to know about 9:45 · Windows 11 and I'll put that video right 9:47 · here for you hope you enjoy it let me 9:49 · know if you have any questions down in 9:50 · the comments thanks so much for watching
Bump.
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