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. But every security hole found since that date stays open on your computer permanently.
There is one more deadline you need on your calendar: the consumer Extended Security Updates program — the stopgap that kept patches coming for another year — ends on October 13, 2026. That is both the last day of coverage and the last day to enroll. After it, a Windows 10 home PC is genuinely on its own.
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.
Option 2: Buy the extra year of updates (only until October 13, 2026)
The consumer ESU program is a patch-only lifeline — no new features, no support, and it does not extend past October 2026. Treat it as breathing room to plan the real move, not as a solution. If you are reading this close to the deadline, enrolling late does not buy you a late finish: coverage still stops on the same day for everyone.
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.
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, and lightweight operating systems built for older hardware can bring a web-and-email machine back to useful life. The rule if you keep running Windows 10 unsupported: nothing sensitive on it — no banking, no email you care about.
Before you upgrade anything: back up
In-place upgrades almost always go fine, and "almost always" is not a word 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 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 what happens at the next major Windows update.
Not sure which option is yours?
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