Windows 10 Support Officially Ends Today - But The Chaos Will Continue For Years

Every type of Windows successful nan modern era adheres to a 10-year support lifecycle. That intends astir each Windows 10 version -- Home, Pro, Pro Workstation, Enterprise, and Education -- reached its end-of-support day connected Oct. 14, 2025. (For nan nerdy specifications connected really that day is calculated, see "When will Microsoft extremity support for your type of Windows aliases Office?")

So, what happens now that nan charismatic end-of-support deadline has passed? Nothing. Seriously, perfectly thing happened connected that date. PCs moving Windows 10 proceed to activity conscionable arsenic they ever have, and they will do truthful indefinitely.

Also: Can't upgrade your Windows 10 PC? Support has ended, truthful you request to enactment now

However, those PCs nary longer person information fixes done Windows Update unless their owners sign up for an Extended Security Updates (ESU) subscription. On Windows 10 PCs without an ESU subscription, immoderate recently discovered information flaws will stay unpatched, making those PCs progressively susceptible to online attacks.

The only objection to this cutoff day applies to PCs moving Windows 10 Enterprise Long Term Servicing editions, which person end-of-support dates that scope from October 2026 to January 2029. But those editions are exclusively for endeavor customers pinch measurement licence agreements and aren't applicable to mainstream PCs.

No 1 extracurricular of Redmond knows really galore PCs are still moving Windows 10 today. Microsoft tin astir apt make a coagulated estimate based connected its telemetry, but nan remainder of america are forced to conjecture based connected fragmentary third-party metrics.

The astir wide quoted measurement is from nan monthly "market share" reports published by Statcounter Global Stats. Unfortunately, those metrics person ever been unreliable and inconsistent, but opening successful May 2025 they became completely unbelievable. (If you judge nan Statcounter numbers from September 2025, hundreds of millions of PCs downgraded to Windows 7 complete nan summer. LOL, that did not happen.)

This is what nan Statcounter numbers looked for illustration backmost successful April 2025.

There's a ample organization of group that can't aliases won't upgrade.

• Those who don't suffice for an automatic upgrade. Some group ain older hardware that doesn't meet nan minimum hardware compatibility standards for Windows 11. Basically, that intends immoderate PC that was designed successful 2018 aliases earlier. Note that this class includes galore fund PCs that utilized older designs and unsupported CPUs but were sold arsenic caller successful 2019 and 2020.
• Corporate PCs that are standardized connected Windows 10. A nontrivial number of endeavor IT managers aren't fresh to spell done a wholesale Windows 11 migration. Many of them will usage nan normal upgrade rhythm to execute that migration complete time, and they person nan action to salary for Windows 10 upgrades for up to 3 years aft nan end-of-support date.
• Windows 10 diehards. From my clip spent reference support forums, I cognize there's a ample organization of longtime Windows users who are unhappy astir nan changes successful Windows 11. Some of them will reluctantly upgrade, but others won't.

Microsoft and its OEM partners would for illustration that nan owners of those devices dump them successful a landfill and bargain a caller PC moving Windows 11. However, my acquisition pinch PC owners, particularly older group connected a fixed income, is that they will usage those devices until they extremity working. Those PCs will beryllium sitting ducks for a cyberattack like WannaCry, which was brutally effective against nan ample organization of Windows 7 PCs that were still successful usage 3 years aft its support ended.

That incident was a PR nightmare for Microsoft, and a repetition would beryllium moreover much devastating to nan company's reputation. Enterprise customers will apt return advantage of paid options to widen support for Windows 10 by 3 years. But consumers are already connected their ain and will beryllium wholly abandoned successful a year.

Brad LaPorte, a erstwhile Gartner expert who now useful for endeavor information firm Morphisec, says nan end-of-support deadline is simply a "security cliff." He adds, "Every period aft October 2025, unpatched devices will go softer targets for ransomware and zero-day exploits. The harsh reality is that attackers person already moved into position."

Luis Corrons, a information evangelist astatine information patient Avast, notes that "unpatched Windows and driver bugs go long-lived introduction points." And moreover if those vulnerabilities aren't exploited directly, he adds, nan end-of-support deadline is an opportunity for scammers. "People whitethorn spot clone pop-ups, upgrade offers aliases moreover get telephone calls pretending to beryllium from Microsoft."

We're successful uncharted territory.