News: 0179786000

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Windows 10 Support 'Ends' Today (arstechnica.com)

(Tuesday October 14, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the technically-speaking dept.)


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:

> Today is the [1]official end-of-support date for Microsoft's Windows 10 . That doesn't mean these PCs will suddenly stop working, but if you don't take action, it does mean your PC has received its last regular security patches and that Microsoft is washing its hands of technical support. This end-of-support date comes about a decade after the initial release of Windows 10, which is typical for most Windows versions. But it comes just four years after Windows 10 was replaced by Windows 11, a version with [2]stricter system requirements that left many older-but-still-functional PCs with no officially supported upgrade path. As a result, Windows 10 still runs on roughly 40 percent of the world's Windows PCs (or around a third of US-based PCs), according to [3]StatCounter data .

>

> But this end-of-support date also isn't set in stone. Home users with Windows 10 PCs can enroll in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which [4]extends the support timeline by another year. [...] Home users can only get a one-year stay of execution for Windows 10, but IT administrators and other institutions with fleets of Windows 10 PCs can also pay for up to three years of ESUs, which is also roughly the amount of time users can expect new Microsoft Defender antivirus updates and updates for core apps like Microsoft Edge. Obviously, Microsoft's preferred upgrade path would be either an upgrade to Windows 11 for PCs that meet the requirements or an upgrade to a new PC that does support Windows 11. It's also still possible, at least for now, to install and run Windows 11 on unsupported PCs. Your day-to-day experience will generally be pretty good, though installing Microsoft's major yearly updates (like the upcoming Windows 11 25H2 update) can be a bit of a pain.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/windows-10-support-ends-today-but-its-just-the-first-of-many-deaths/

[2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-system-requirements-86c11283-ea52-4782-9efd-7674389a7ba3

[3] https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share/desktop/united-states-of-america

[4] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/24/1943257/microsoft-offers-no-cost-windows-10-lifeline



Good - no more rebooting (Score:5, Interesting)

by neoRUR ( 674398 )

I'm glad my windows machines wont be rebooting in the middle of the night now to install a new update that says I should upgrade to windows 11.

We're now free (Score:5, Funny)

by ebunga ( 95613 )

Free from the threat of constant software updates that add some unwanted feature to the system or reset privacy settings to defaults that permit microsoft to steal photos of your children for "training purposes".

Re: (Score:2)

by Morromist ( 1207276 )

Yeah, if you have good data management and security practices why not just stay on windows 10 forever? That's my plan. I have windows 11 on one of my computers and it really is gross, the features they removed, the ai, the ads that pop up piped in directly from microsoft.

And yes, I have to use windows for certain things I do, otherwise I would switch to linux.

Re: (Score:1, Troll)

by ebunga ( 95613 )

And it looks like garbage. If I wanted a confusing linux desktop environment I would run linux.

Re: (Score:3)

by techno-vampire ( 666512 )

Linux desktop environments (DEs) are generally fairly easy to configure the way you want. And, if you find it hard to get it looking the way you want, or there are things you don't like about it, there's nothing to stop you from trying a different one. My suggestion is to find out which DE the Linux diistro you're considering using ahead of time to avoid any sudden surprises after installation.

Re: (Score:2)

by ambrandt12 ( 6486220 )

Linux is great... until you need to run some program that's Windows-only... sure, I can install Windows in a VM thing and run it there (the Windows-only program) at a significant performance hit.

Or... you need me to walk you through how to do something in Mint 10 or whatever, and I only know RedHat20 or something... if both of us have Win10, I can just explain it.

Re: (Score:2)

by buck-yar ( 164658 )

> Linux desktop environments (DEs) are generally (...)

Did you really just define an acronym for that slashdot post?

Re: (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

because theres zero ways to customize windows like cmon guy there are like 7 different tools to turn windows 10 and 11 into windows 7 interface to say nothing of shit like rainmeter

you navel gazers really think actual windows-heads dont have their systems looking how they want within 30 minutes of a new install. come on richard you know better

Re: (Score:3)

by leonbev ( 111395 )

That said, Microsoft backported most of the data collection, advertising, and AI bloatware "enhancements" to the later releases of Windows 10 as well. If you left the default privacy raping settings go, it's basically as bad as Windows 11 now.

Hell, at this point they're even inserting CoPilot and OneDrive into the Mac versions of Office whether you want it or not.

I love the smell of software updates in the mornin (Score:3)

by OrangeTide ( 124937 )

You could always try Arch Linux. And update your software 3 times a week.

Re: (Score:1)

by Tablizer ( 95088 )

> unwanted feature...that permit microsoft to steal photos of your children for "training purposes".

Isn't that how EpsteinGPT was invented?

Congrats! y'all are free of security patches (Score:1, Troll)

by williamyf ( 227051 )

Your prize will be a full screen notification saying: pay 50,000,000 satochis or else...

Better register on the Free-ish ESU and tolerate 12 more months of patch Tuesdays and updates... Those security updates that re-start your machine and may break things are better than the alternatives.

And yes, I know that your digital hygiene is top notch,

and also that you do not need condoms because your pull out strategy is flawless and the rubbing for an extended period will not derive in AIDS, gonorrea or siphilis...

I miss antitrust law enforcement (Score:1)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

Ordinarily Microsoft would be violating the law if they bundled their AI bullshit with their operating system. That is a classic antitrust violation..

But since we stopped any semblance of antitrust law enforcement 25 years ago that's right out the door and we can all just suck it the fuck down.

Never mind the fact that there are absolutely no viable competitors to Microsoft besides Apple and if you play games apple is not a viable competitor...

The bullshit they are pulling in Windows 11 is exactl

And of course we need more and more and more (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Antitrust. Whatever the problem in our society the actual solution is always always more antitrust law enforcement so we can go back to having competition. Capitalism without competition is just fascism.

Market consolidation and a complete lack of antitrust law enforcement means that if you try to go fast and break things you will either get run out of business or if you're really really lucky a few million bucks tossed your way to go away.

I suspect if we had proper antitrust law enforcement HP would not be

The beginning of a new era (Score:5, Interesting)

by Quietust ( 205670 )

For the past 25 years, there have always been between 2 and 5 concurrently-supported versions of Windows Desktop:

Windows NT 3.1 Workstation was supported from July 1993 to December 2000, nearly a year after Windows 2000's release in early 2000

Windows NT 3.5 and 3.51 Workstation were supported from late 1994/early 1995 to December 2001, two months after the release of Windows XP

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation was supported from August 1996 to June 2004, about a year after the ill-fated Windows XP for Itanium (which itself was followed by Windows XP for amd64 two years later)

Windows 2000 was supported from February 2000 to July 2010, about 9 months after Windows 7 came out

Windows XP was supported from October 2001 to April 2014, about six months after the release of Windows 8.1

Windows Vista was supported from January 2007 to April 2017, just under two years into Windows 10

Windows 7 was supported from October 2009 to January 2020, four and a half years into Windows 10

Windows 8 was supported from October 2012 to January 2016 (before Vista!), at which point you had to upgrade to 8.1

Windows 8.1 was supported from October 2013 to January 2023, a year and a half into Windows 11

Windows 10 was supported from July 2015 until today, October 2025, 4 years into Windows 11

Windows 11 was released in October 2021

For the first time ever, there is now exactly ONE supported version of Windows Desktop (excluding the various feature updates, and also excluding the Enterprise LTSC versions because, let's face it, nobody's legitimately running those at home). I'm sure Microsoft is thrilled that they don't have to worry about supporting old desktops anymore (aside from the people paying for up to 3 years of extended support).

Re: (Score:3)

by PPH ( 736903 )

> For the first time ever, there is now exactly ONE supported version of Windows Desktop

They are just herding in the stragglers. We must be getting close to the abattoir.

Re: (Score:2)

by caseih ( 160668 )

There's one if you consider all the variants of Windows 11 to be one OS, which they kind of are. But there's at least the IOT version, the home version, the pro version, the enterprise version. Then there is are the ARM variants as well.

Re: (Score:3)

by williamyf ( 227051 )

> For the first time ever, there is now exactly ONE supported version of Windows Desktop (excluding the various feature updates, and also excluding the Enterprise LTSC versions because, let's face it, nobody's legitimately running those at home).[...] I'm sure Microsoft is thrilled that they don't have to worry about supporting old desktops anymore (aside from the people paying for up to 3 years of extended support).

You are forgeting Win NT 3.1 itself. From the introduction of Win NT 31. until the introduction of NT 3.51, there was only one vcersion of WinNT in active support.

Jokes aside, we are getting close to Win12 Plan. accordingly.

Jokes aside (this time for realsies), Win12 will only come when the minimum hardware changes so much that a clean branding break is mandatory. It behooves microsoft if all versions of Windows are called the same, even if, internally they differ a lot. You are seeing this now witn win11.

W

Re: (Score:1)

by davidwr ( 791652 )

> (excluding the various feature updates, and also excluding the Enterprise LTSC versions because, let's face it, nobody's legitimately running those at home)

I'd be surprised if there were exactly zero people who legitimately use Enterprise LTSC versions at home.

More likely, it's in the less-than-1-per-thousand but more-than-one-per-million legitimate installations of Windows Enterprise that are in a residence (primarily remote workers in corporate environments).

Re: (Score:2)

by ambrandt12 ( 6486220 )

-- Win10 Enterprise IoT LTSC on both Windows machines (the free Mac is High Sierra forever)... if you look in the right places, you can find a GitHub program called LTSConvert that is just a powershell script that can do an in-place upgrade.

Re: (Score:1)

by davidwr ( 791652 )

> free Mac is High Sierra forever

It [1]doesn't have to be [github.com].

Note: Don't try to install macOS 26, OpenCore Legacy Patcher doesn't support it, yet.

[1] https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/releases

Problem was 6 years between OSes (Score:1)

by davidwr ( 791652 )

XP to Vista had 5 years between OSes, but XP got free updates for 12 1/2 years.

Microsoft would've had much better PR and a much safer Windows ecosystem* if they extended free, no-strings-attached Windows 10 support until 7 years after Windows 11 shipped, until October 2028. By then, the number of Windows-11-incapable computers still running Windows 10 on the internet** will be much lower than it is today.

* In about 4 weeks, bad guys will release "never to be patched for free" exploits to millions of vulner

Re: (Score:2)

by ambrandt12 ( 6486220 )

Well, yeah... don't download stuff from untrusted (read: not the official site) sources, if someone gives you a thumbdrive it's normal practice not to let it run anything without you checking it... Windows Defender is crap, check it with SpyBot (and, if you know enough, scan now and then with HiJackThis... just be really careful what you check for fixing... you can cripple Windows with 2 clicks).

Re: (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

Good. I rather they focus on one. I mean, I doubt they'll even get that right.

Rufus (Score:5, Informative)

by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 )

For those of you who want to upgrade to Windows 11, but have a machine that doesn't officially support it, there's Rufus. [1]https://rufus.ie/en/ [rufus.ie]

It uses a legitimate Windows 11 ISO, which you download yourself from Microsoft's website using the Media Creation Tool. Once you have that, Rufus will use it to make a bootable USB stick that installs Windows, bypassing the TPM and other requirements.

[1] https://rufus.ie/en/

Rufus is quite handy (Score:2)

by couchslug ( 175151 )

Not just for Windows, it works for writing Linux .iso images too.

Re:Rufus (Score:4, Informative)

by williamyf ( 227051 )

> For those of you who want to upgrade to Windows 11, but have a machine that doesn't officially support it, there's Rufus. [1]https://rufus.ie/en/ [rufus.ie]

> It uses a legitimate Windows 11 ISO, which you download yourself from Microsoft's website using the Media Creation Tool. Once you have that, Rufus will use it to make a bootable USB stick that installs Windows, bypassing the TPM and other requirements.

I like RUFUS and the bypases. Problems with running Win11 on unsupported hardware are:

* If you install Win11 on non-compliant hardware, yearly upgrades (say from Win11 24h2 to Win11 25h2) are a pain in the ass. And not automatic. So, you have to deal with a yearly paion in the ass, or be as insecure as on unsupported Win10*.

* If your non-compliant's machine (i/d)GPU lacks WDDM2.0 drivers, your display will be slow as hell and look like ass

* If your non-compliant machine has hardware that lacks Windows Desktop Universal Drivers, said hardware will not work (or work like crap with generic drivers), as Win11 does not support the older Windows Universal Drivers.

* If your non-compliant Win10 machine lacks the bibs abd bobs needed for HVCI (3rd gen or older intel), your machine may fail in the future.

* If your machine has the HVCI Stuff, but lacks the MBEC stuff (4th to 6th gen intel), you will have performance degradations (depending on workload).

* If you game on a non compliant Win11 machine, and you do not have TPM2.0 or SecureBoot for reasons, many a game (doubly so those that use anti-cheetos) will refuse to load.

Stay on Win10 + ESU for this year, and re-evaluate on july next year. At least, if in 2026 you decide on rufus, you'll save yourself the 25h2 to 26h2 pain in the ass, as you will go straight to 26h2.

* My brother is doing exactly that stupidity with the 7 desktops of his SMB. Last year I found the machines running 23h2, and I can bet pennies to dimes that they are still like that.

[1] https://rufus.ie/en/

What's the big deal? (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

4 years is a lot of time to hold on to an ancient PC (most likely you have a 10+ year old computer if it doesn't meet windows 11 spec.) Ok, let's say you can't upgrade because you fell on hard times-- it happens to everyone .. then switch to Linux for fuck's sake. I don't see why Microsoft has to keep supporting 4 year old shit especially if it still works. I wouldn't hook it up a Windows 10 PC internet though that's irresponsible/negligent like walking into a public place without a COVID mask.

Re: (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

*last sentence got scrambled, fucking AI

Re: (Score:2)

by williamyf ( 227051 )

> 4 years is a lot of time to hold on to an ancient PC (most likely you have a 10+ year old computer if it doesn't meet windows 11 spec.) Ok, let's say you can't upgrade because you fell on hard times-- it happens to everyone .. then switch to Linux for fuck's sake. I don't see why Microsoft has to keep supporting 4 year old shit especially if it still works. I wouldn't hook it up a Windows 10 PC internet though that's irresponsible/negligent like walking into a public place without a COVID mask.

Agree 107%. Also, the ESU is open to normies like us for the first time ever. Take advantage of that! One more years of support for free-ish is a great deal.

Hooking your cellphone to a Google or icloud account is way worse than hooking your desktop to an MS (or iCloud) account, and I guess the people whailing and ripping their vests and throwing ash on themselves over microsoft requiring an account for the ESU hook their phones to google or apple without batting an eye, or any second tought.

Re: (Score:2)

by Ksevio ( 865461 )

A lot of systems don't have TPM support which is a requirement for Windows 11, even more recent hardware. It's easily possible to upgrade all the parts of the PC and have a fairly high end system that's not compatible with Windows 11

Re: (Score:2)

by Temkin ( 112574 )

> 4 years is a lot of time to hold on to an ancient PC (most likely you have a 10+ year old computer if it doesn't meet windows 11 spec.) Ok, let's say you can't upgrade because you fell on hard times-- it happens to everyone .. then switch to Linux for fuck's sake. I don't see why Microsoft has to keep supporting 4 year old shit especially if it still works.

The real crux of the problem is the '10s were not great for CPU performance increases. They shipped like 7 (?) generations of CPU's with basically the same single thread speed, and a bunch of horrible security issues like spectre & meltdown, etc... All you got were more cores, useless instruction sets, more memory, and near the end of the '10s NVMe & finally some better single thread speeds. Windows 10 was advertised as the "last version of Windows", etc... Win 7 to Win 10 was free for existing CO

Who needs this "support"? (Score:4, Informative)

by couchslug ( 175151 )

W10 ESU updates and correct checksums will promptly leak for those who care.

I upgraded to Linux long ago so I'm looking forward to more hardware being sold off.

Please, Don't Tease!!! (Score:2)

by crunchy_one ( 1047426 )

> Today is the official end-of-support date for Microsoft's Windows 10. That doesn't mean these PCs will suddenly stop working,

Last Version of Windows (Score:4, Interesting)

by Mr_Blank ( 172031 )

Who can I sue? I thought Microsoft said that Windows 10 would be " [1]the last version of windows [pcmag.com]"

Should I spend all the money to upgrade to a new computer just so I can run Windows 11 for a few years?

Should I stay on defunct Windows 10 until Windows 12 is available? I would surely be upset if I bought a Win11 capable computer only to learn Win12 has all new incompatible requirements.

Has anyone reviewed the environmental impact of making all of the Win10 hardware go to the landfills?

I guess I will have to look up the best Linux option and make the move. The year of Linux has arrived for me. Thanks Microsoft!

[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/windows-10-the-last-version-of-windows

Thank you Microsoft (Score:2)

by shm ( 235766 )

Windows 8 was enough for our company to switch to Linux (EDA tools) and Macs.

And as older Intel Macs enter Apple's EOL list, they make excellent Linux machines.

Win11 "pretty good"? I don't think so... (Score:2)

by gweihir ( 88907 )

In the two hours I have used it, it crashed on me twice, each time requiring a reboot. One was the file-explorer crashing. Same software, same hardware was rock-solid with win10 before. Win11 is a lemon.

You'll be called to a post requiring ability in handling groups of people.