Windows 10 end of support is less than three months away.
After 14th October 2025 Windows 10 will no longer receive updates for:
- feature updates
- quality updates
- bug fixes
- security updates
If you are using Windows Defender antivirus on a Windows 10 computer then carry on. You will continue to receive antivirus signature updates (definitions for known malware) until at least 2028. However, this does not protect against unpatched vulnerabilities within the Windows 10 operating system itself.
If you are wondering if Windows 10 will still be safe after 2025, you need to aware that it will become increasingly vulnerable to newly discovered security issues that are not patched. Existing peripherals (such as printers) may stop receiving driver and software updates for Windows 10, and new products may not support Windows 10 at all.
You can buy Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for one year
Microsoft had previously announced that a one-off extension of security updates for one year will be available. See my earlier blog “Windows 10 End of Support – ESU pricing“.
This is for individual Windows 10 machines (educational and organisational licensing is different and not considered here). The cost is $30 in USA. Microsoft has yet to announce the UK cost. Note that this extension is for one year only and is for security updates only. There will be no more feature updates, quality updates, or bug fixes.
So, what’s new with Windows 10 ESU since these announcements?
Microsoft is now offering Windows 10 ESU free of charge – providing that you enrol in the “Windows Backup” service.
Windows Backup copies the following to the cloud:
- Settings – your device settings, personalisation options, and Wi-Fi network information.
- Installed Apps – a warning, though, that this is just a LIST of your programs. Microsoft point you in the right direction to source your programs for re-installation. Nevertheless, you will still have to do the installation and configuration yourself.
- Credentials – certain usernames and passwords that are held within Microsoft programs (such as Edge) are backed up, but not the data in other password managers (eg Chrome, Dashlane).
And now for the big item in the Windows Backup service – OneDrive
To enrol for the free ESU, you must enrol for Microsoft OneDrive – their so-called “cloud backup service”. In my own experience (both personally and the experience of my own IT Support clients), OneDrive can cause immense confusion about whether and where it stores files on your local machine. More importantly, it is NOT a backup solution. It is a synching service. See “Version History in OneDrive“.
So, what initially looks like an offer you can’t refuse, might quite possibly cause you more problems than it’s worth.
You might ask yourself “Why would Microsoft want to charge me $30 for X but offer me both X and Y at no charge”? That’s a very good question indeed. Almost sounds like they’re bribing you to use OneDrive (and the rest of what’s included in Windows Backup).
Why would they do that, I wonder?
Almost 50% of the world’s computers still run Windows 10. Maybe Microsoft is thinking “well, if we can’t get them to buy a Windows 11 computer, at least we can use the threat of ceasing updates to inveigle them into using Windows Backup. This will lock them further into Microsoft, give us lots more of their data that we can use to our advantage, and steer them towards ever-recurring subscription fees”. Cynical? Moi?
No, I don’t think I am being cynical. If you are not already subscribing to Microsoft 365 then your OneDrive storage allocation will be 5gb. That is almost certainly not going to be enough to even get you started with cloud storage of your files, credentials, attachments from emails with Outlook.com, and files generated by Microsoft 365 apps.
So, what’s likely to happen is that you commit to the offer and it starts to move your files online (note that I said “move” and not “copy”). Then it runs out of space, so you’re now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Back-tracking might be difficult and subscribing to any of the Microsoft 365 plans has now fatally undermined the original “free” offer. It has probably also committed you to things you don’t want.
Conclusions
When it comes to Microsoft’s offer of free ESU for a year if you enrol in the Windows Backup service, then my advice would be the same as when advising on the use of OneDrive on its own – don’t.
If you want to keep using Windows 10 safely for another year, then I recommend paying for the ESU. It could work out a lot cheaper in the long run.
While you can enrol in the ESU program at any time until October 13th, 2026, the free coverage period is fixed and ends on that date for everyone. This means enrolling later than October 2025 will give you all security updates released so far, but you’ll have fewer months of active coverage from your signup date.
On the other hand, if Windows Update says that you can install Windows 11 on your Windows 10 machine then I would recommend doing just that. I would recommend backing up your data first, but I have not encountered any problems when upgrading clients’ computers in the last couple of years (although it can take a couple of hours to download and complete the upgrade).
For more information from Microsoft, see “Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program“, but be wary of their very coy use of the term “PC Settings” and dig deeper to find what is actually involved.
Also, see this from PC Mag – “How to Stay on Windows 10 Without Paying $30“.
This blog post was fact-checked by Gemini on 29/07/2025
All images designed by David Leonard with Microsoft Designer
