Depending on what you’re running on it or how you connect it to the Internet or your home network, you’re going to be at more and more risk as time goes on.
What’s the harm in upgrading now, especially if you barely ever use it?
I hate win 11 and there’s a lot of downsides to running it, but they’re going to quickly become a minor issue when compared to the risks of running an unpatched OS that is that huge of a target for exploits. Just trust me on that, the risks are going to get more and more real because attackers KNOW there’s a huuuuge number of businesses and consumers that just won’t upgrade and they’re frothing at the mouth to take advantage of the next few years of opportunity.
There’s a version of Windows 10 called LTSC (long term servicing channel) that will continue to receive patches, just no new features, that you can stay on for probably the length of time you’ll have that laptop. Since you barely use the laptop it’s probably perfect for you. You can easily find out how to obtain and activate it for free, securely, with a simple search - I won’t link to it here. One of my servers is running it because it’s old hardware and runs software that requires windows. It’s a really good option for people that don’t want to or don’t have hardware that supports 11, but want something secure and functional.
Depending on what you’re running on it or how you connect it to the Internet or your home network, you’re going to be at more and more risk as time goes on.
What’s the harm in upgrading now, especially if you barely ever use it?
I hate win 11 and there’s a lot of downsides to running it, but they’re going to quickly become a minor issue when compared to the risks of running an unpatched OS that is that huge of a target for exploits. Just trust me on that, the risks are going to get more and more real because attackers KNOW there’s a huuuuge number of businesses and consumers that just won’t upgrade and they’re frothing at the mouth to take advantage of the next few years of opportunity.
There’s a version of Windows 10 called LTSC (long term servicing channel) that will continue to receive patches, just no new features, that you can stay on for probably the length of time you’ll have that laptop. Since you barely use the laptop it’s probably perfect for you. You can easily find out how to obtain and activate it for free, securely, with a simple search - I won’t link to it here. One of my servers is running it because it’s old hardware and runs software that requires windows. It’s a really good option for people that don’t want to or don’t have hardware that supports 11, but want something secure and functional.