The Windows 10 countdown

I was browsing the web on an old laptop on the sofa a few weeks ago when a notification popped up on my screen: "Windows 10 support ends in October 2025. Upgrade to Windows 11 today!" I dismissed it immediately, which is my standard response to anything that interrupts me. But then I thought about it properly and realised - hang on, that's actually this month.

We've got one old laptop still running Windows 10. Just one. Our other laptops got upgraded to Windows 11 a few years back. But that single remaining Windows 10 machine got me thinking about all our clients who are probably in the same boat, staring at that countdown and wondering what to do about it.

So here we are. Let's talk about what's actually happening and what your options are, without the usual tech industry fear-mongering.

What's actually happening

On October 14th, 2025, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10. This is the date they announced years ago, and they're sticking to it.

But what does "ending support" actually mean? It's not like your computer is going to explode at midnight on October 15th. Windows 10 will still work. Your programs will still run. You'll still be able to check your email and browse the web. Everything will feel exactly the same.

The problem is what stops happening: security updates. Microsoft won't be releasing patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities. And there will be newly discovered vulnerabilities - there always are. It's not a question of if, it's when.

Why we resist these changes

I completely get why people don't want to upgrade. If your computer works fine right now, why mess with it? There's a beautiful simplicity to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy.

I've been using computers since the 1980s, and I've lived through enough Windows upgrades to know they're never as smooth as promised. There's always something - a printer that stops working, a program that won't run anymore, some weird quirk that takes hours to figure out. If you've been following our blog for a while, you may remember that we've been here before.

And then there's the Windows version curse. You know the one - every other version of Windows is terrible. Windows ME was a disaster. Windows XP was brilliant. Windows Vista was awful. Windows 7 was great. Windows 8 made everyone's heads hurt. Windows 10 was actually quite good once it settled down. Which means, if the pattern holds, Windows 11 should be... well, not great.

To be fair, Windows 11 isn't actually bad. But it's not Windows 10 either. The Start menu is different in ways that annoyed me enough to install Start All Back, which gives me back the Windows 10 experience I'm used to. So even when you upgrade, you might find yourself trying to make the new thing behave like the old thing.

So I understand the reluctance. Your Windows 10 machine is a known quantity. It does what you need it to do. Why invite chaos?

The uncomfortable answer is that doing nothing isn't really an option. At some point - could be weeks, could be months - someone's going to discover a significant security vulnerability in Windows 10. And it won't get fixed. Ever. Your computer will be sitting there with a known weakness that anyone with the right knowledge can exploit.

The actual risks

Let's be honest about what the risks actually are, because I think a lot of the messaging around this is designed to scare people into upgrading immediately.

If you're just using your computer for basic tasks - email, web browsing, word processing - and you're careful about what you click on, you'll probably be fine for a while. The internet isn't quite the lawless wasteland that some people make it out to be.

But "probably fine for a while" isn't a great long-term strategy, especially if you're running a business or handling any kind of sensitive information. The problem compounds over time. Each month after October 2025, there will be one more unpatched vulnerability. Then another. Then another. Eventually, you're running software that's so full of holes it's basically Swiss cheese.

And it's not just about malware. Some software vendors will stop supporting Windows 10 entirely. Web browsers might stop getting updates. Your antivirus software might stop working. You'll find yourself increasingly stuck using outdated versions of everything.

What are your options?

Option 1: Upgrade to Windows 11

This is what Microsoft wants you to do, obviously. If your computer meets the requirements, it's the most straightforward path. The upgrade process itself is fairly painless - I won't lie and say it's perfect, but the process went reasonably smoothly when we did it.

The catch is the hardware requirements. Windows 11 needs a relatively modern processor with something called TPM 2.0, which a lot of older machines don't have. You can check if your computer is compatible, but if it's more than five or six years old, there's a decent chance it won't make the cut.

Our older laptops didn't have TPM 2.0, so we ended up buying new ones. That older machine that couldn't upgrade? That's the one we've put Linux on.

Option 2: Buy new hardware

If your current computer can't run Windows 11, this might be the push you need to replace it anyway. Computers don't last forever, and if yours is old enough that it can't run Windows 11, it's probably getting long in the tooth in other ways, too.

The downside is the cost, obviously. And the environmental impact of junking a perfectly functional machine just because Microsoft decided it's not modern enough. That bothers me more than it probably should.

Option 3: Extended Security Updates

Microsoft will sell you Extended Security Updates for Windows 10, which basically means paying them to keep sending security patches for a bit longer. It's expensive, though - we're talking hundreds of pounds per machine per year, and it only delays the inevitable.

This might make sense for businesses with specific software that won't work on Windows 11, but for most people, it's just throwing money at the problem.

Option 4: Try something different

Here's where things get interesting. That old Windows 10 laptop we had? We've just installed Ubuntu Linux with KDE Plasma on it. It's an experiment, really - I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone, but if you've got an old computer lying around and you're curious about Linux, this might be a good time to give it a go.

The installation process is more straightforward than it used to be, and modern Linux distributions are surprisingly user-friendly. Everything you need for basic computing - web browser, email, office software - works perfectly well. Sometimes better than Windows, if I'm honest.

The catch is that it's different. If you rely on specific Windows software, particularly anything from Adobe or Microsoft Office, you're going to have problems. And while the Linux community is incredibly helpful, there's definitely a learning curve.

But for an old machine that's just used for web browsing and email? Linux can give it a new lease on life. It's faster than Windows on older hardware, and you don't have to worry about license fees or forced upgrades.

What we're doing

For our business machines, we've upgraded to Windows 11. It made sense - we need the security updates, we need to stay current with web development tools, and once we'd bought new laptops with TPM 2.0, the upgrade was straightforward.

That old laptop is now running Linux, which feels appropriate given that all our web servers run Linux anyway. It's nice having a machine around where I can tinker without worrying about breaking something important.

For clients, our recommendation depends entirely on your situation. If you've got Windows 11-compatible hardware, upgrade. If you don't, it's worth having a proper conversation about whether it makes sense to purchase new hardware or explore alternatives.

The bigger picture

There's something that bothers me about this whole situation. We're discarding perfectly functional computers because Microsoft has decided to change the hardware requirements. These machines aren't broken - they're just not supported anymore.

It's planned obsolescence dressed up as progress. And I get it, I really do - Microsoft can't support old hardware forever, and there are genuine security reasons for requiring modern features like TPM 2.0. But it still feels wasteful.

This is why I'm increasingly interested in alternatives like Linux. Not because Linux is perfect - it absolutely isn't (I don't love how often I need to use the command line) - but because it gives old hardware a second life. That seems more sensible than adding more e-waste to landfills.

So what should you do?

Check your computers now. Like, today. We're already in October. See if they can run Windows 11. If they can, upgrade. If they can't, you need to make a decision soon.

And whatever you decide, please don't just ignore this and hope it goes away. I know it's tempting, but this one actually matters. An unsupported operating system is a ticking time bomb, and you don't want to be the person who discovers that the hard way.

The good news is you've still got a few days before 14th October. But that's not much time, and these things have a way of being more complicated than you expect. Better to sort it out now than scramble to deal with it in a panic when your antivirus software stops working next month.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and spend hours trying to get our new Linux laptop to talk to our printer. Some things never change, regardless of which operating system you're using.