Microsoft stopped issuing security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. The machine still turns on, still runs your programs, and looks exactly the same — which is precisely why so many people have done nothing about it. Every security hole found since that date stays open permanently on any machine that isn’t enrolled in the one program still delivering patches.
That program just grew. The consumer Extended Security Updates program — the stopgap that keeps patches coming — was due to close on October 13, 2026. In June 2026 Microsoft extended it a full year, to October 12, 2027, and made the extra year automatic for anyone already enrolled. If you haven’t enrolled, you still can, often free. The reprieve changes your timetable, not your destination: Windows 10 is still ending, and your choice is how you leave it.
What “unsupported” actually means
Nothing visible changes on an unsupported computer, which is the trap. What changes is this: when researchers find a new flaw in Windows — and they find them every month — Microsoft fixes Windows 11 and enrolled Windows 10 machines, then publishes the fix. Attackers read those fixes to learn exactly what was broken, and go scanning for machines that never got the patch. An unenrolled Windows 10 PC is on that list forever.
The consequences arrive in layers. Your bank won’t block an old Windows version, but if money is stolen through malware on an unsupported machine, you are in a far weaker position when you dispute it. Software vendors quietly stop testing on Windows 10 — first the niche programs, eventually the browsers. And for a business the exposure is written down: cyber-insurance applications routinely ask whether every machine still receives security updates, and an untrue yes gives the insurer a reason to walk away from a claim. Card-industry security rules likewise expect supported, patched systems wherever payments are handled. One old laptop in the back office can quietly become a compliance problem.
Option 1: upgrade to Windows 11 (free, if your PC qualifies)
If your computer meets the requirements, the upgrade costs nothing and keeps your files and programs in place. The requirements that trip people up are TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and a processor from roughly 2018 onward — 8th-generation Intel or AMD Ryzen 2000 and newer — plus 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage.
To find out where you stand, download Microsoft’s free PC Health Check tool from Microsoft’s own site and run it. It gives a straight yes or no, and names the specific thing that failed. Worth knowing: plenty of machines fail only because TPM or Secure Boot is switched off in the BIOS rather than absent — that is a settings change, not a new computer, and a tech on Koadi can flip those switches over a screen-share in minutes. If the machine qualifies but is old enough that you’re hesitating, our guide on upgrading versus replacing walks that exact decision.
Option 2: enroll in the extended updates (now through October 2027)
The consumer ESU program is a patch-only lifeline — no new features, no support line, just the security fixes. As of September 2026 there are three ways in: sync your PC settings using the Windows Backup app (free), redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or pay $30 once — and one paid license covers up to 10 devices. You can enroll any time before the program closes on October 12, 2027, from Settings, under Windows Update. You’ll need Windows 10 version 22H2, current on its updates, and a Microsoft account.
Businesses are on a different program with real invoices: $61 per device for the first year, $122 for the second (October 2026 to October 2027), $244 for the third — and the years are cumulative, so joining in year two means paying for year one as well. At those prices ESU is a bridge for the machines you truly cannot replace yet, not a plan.
Either way, treat ESU as breathing room to schedule the real move, not as a solution. The deadline has moved once. Plan as if it will not move again.
Option 3: replace the computer
If the machine already fails PC Health Check and was already slow, this is the honest answer. The part people underestimate is the move itself — files, browser bookmarks and saved passwords, email accounts, printers, and the one old program nobody remembers installing but everyone uses. Plan that before the new box arrives, not after — our guide to setting up a new computer covers the whole transfer. A business replacing several machines at once should read up on how often to replace business computers first; staggering the purchases usually beats one painful invoice.
Option 4: give the old machine a different job
A Windows 10 laptop that fails the upgrade test is not scrap. It makes a perfectly good offline machine for photos, music or a workshop.
If you want it online, there are two honest niche options. Desktop Linux — Mint is the usual first recommendation — is free, current and secure, and most people are comfortable within a day or two for web, email and documents. Google’s free ChromeOS Flex turns the same hardware into, in effect, a Chromebook: simple and very hard to infect, though Google only supports it on its list of certified models, so check yours before committing an afternoon to it. Neither runs Windows programs. For a machine whose whole job is a browser, that trade is often fine.
The rule if you keep running Windows 10 unsupported and unenrolled: nothing sensitive on it — no banking, no shopping, no email you care about.
Before you change anything: back up
In-place upgrades almost always go fine, and “almost always” is not a phrase you want anywhere near your only copy of the family photos. Copy the irreplaceable things to an external drive or cloud storage first — our backup guide takes twenty minutes to follow. Expect the Windows 11 upgrade itself to run between half an hour and a couple of hours, mostly unattended.
About the “install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware” tricks
They exist, they often work, and Microsoft is explicit that such machines are not entitled to updates. Which puts you back where you started — an unpatched computer — with extra steps. If someone offers to do this for you, ask them what happens at the next major Windows update.
Getting the move done without losing a weekend
Whether you need the eligibility check, the ESU enrollment, the upgrade itself, or a full move to a new machine, this is bread-and-butter work for the vetted, identity-verified technicians on Koadi. Post the problem free, set a fixed price or take bids, and the payment sits in escrow until you approve the finished job — you watch everything the technician does. Nearly all of it can be done remotely, anywhere in the US, evenings and weekends included; when hardware needs hands, on-site help through local technicians is available. Post the make and model and get a straight answer on which option is yours.