If you’re that unwilling to move to WIndows 11, Microsoft plans to charge you to remain.
If you’re loath to give up Windows 10 when support expires in about two years, there’s some good news and bad news: Microsoft is extending your support options — but you’ll be forced to pay an additional fee.
Microsoft’s Windows 10 will reach the end of support on October 14, 2025. That will still mean, as it usually does, that Microsoft will release no new features after that date.
What it usually also means is that Microsoft won’t release any new security patches after a product exits its support window. That typically translates to an end-of-life scenario: Without security updates, your use of Windows 10 or another product is subject to any bugs or vulnerabilities that are discovered. You use it at your own risk, basically.
Microsoft sometimes offers an escape hatch. As it has done previously, businesses will be offered an Extended Security Update — a chance to pay Microsoft for additional bug fixes and patches while it transitions over to Windows 11. What’s different is that consumers will now be offered the chance to buy an Extended Security Update, too — the first time that Microsoft has allowed consumers to do this.
The question that Microsoft isn’t answering is, how much will this all cost? Microsoft is going to make you wait before it answers. We do know that Microsoft absolutely loves subscriptions, so this decision doesn’t come as an absolute surprise. And yes, you will have to eventually move to Windows 11. But there will at least be a safety net, though it will cut into your wallet.
