Microsoft will stop issuing security updates and patches for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, and after that it will become a lot more dicey to be using Windows 10 anywhere near the Internet.

Because of that I expect a boatload of people will be contemplating whether to take the free upgrade to Windows 11 this year or pay Microsoft for an extra year of Windows 10 security updates via Microsoft's ESU (Extended Security Updates) program.

So if you really aren't ready to leave Windows 10 behind, don't worry—there are ways to avoid upgrading to Windows 11 and keep getting security updates until October 2026.

But at some point you will have to upgrade, and I'm here to tell you it's not as bad as you might think. Look, I loved Windows 10 and when I wrote our Windows 11 review in 2021 I had mix

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