Microsoft has confirmed that support for Windows 10 has now come to an end. It has released one final mainstream OS update, but millions of users are still running the now abandoned OS.
It’s not a good solution, and I’m not recommending it, but if you absolutely have to stay on Windows 10, you can enroll in the extended security updates program to get you to next year:
This is the supported and safest method: a full reinstall of the Operating System.
The unsafe method is for a user modifying their registry while applying an LTSC upgrade patch to 10. Windows is pretty janky so I wouldn’t recommend this.
For anyone affected by this, I recommend backing up all your data anyway. If you’re hard stuck with Windows, pick 10 LTSC and reinstall the OS. You’ll be supported for several more years with security updates. Much better than picking the temporary bandage solution of enrolling in ESU and tackling the problem again next year. If you’re not stuck with Windows, pick a Windows-like and user friendly Linux distribution like Linux Mint and you’ll be good to go. Best onboarding ramp for ex-Windows users that need the familiarity of Windows and want a stable experience that “just works”.
What can happen if I just keep my old pc on win 10 without the security updates. I mean, it’s just a basic steaming / gaming and project archive computer. I already have backup of the important stuff.
Exploit of vulnerabilities. Hackers continually try to break things. It could be a sketchy download, but also could just be a website you visit that sends certains packets to your PC that changes state of some other thing and then they inject the malware to monitor your passwords or banking session cookie or something.
If you never use that system for critical stuff you are probably OK, but if that system gets infected then the other devices on your home network will be the next target.
Might be worth trying bazziteOS with steam one day and adjusting Proton compatibility per game to see if you get all your titles working.
Luckily my steam library is all working with Linux, but I don’t play triple A kernel anticheat games
It’s not a good solution, and I’m not recommending it, but if you absolutely have to stay on Windows 10, you can enroll in the extended security updates program to get you to next year:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/extended-security-updates
Can also switch it to the LTSC version for 6 more years of updates I believe.
My understanding is you cannot do that without a full reinstall of Windows, wiping out all settings and installed programs. Glad if I’m wrong.
This is the supported and safest method: a full reinstall of the Operating System.
The unsafe method is for a user modifying their registry while applying an LTSC upgrade patch to 10. Windows is pretty janky so I wouldn’t recommend this.
For anyone affected by this, I recommend backing up all your data anyway. If you’re hard stuck with Windows, pick 10 LTSC and reinstall the OS. You’ll be supported for several more years with security updates. Much better than picking the temporary bandage solution of enrolling in ESU and tackling the problem again next year. If you’re not stuck with Windows, pick a Windows-like and user friendly Linux distribution like Linux Mint and you’ll be good to go. Best onboarding ramp for ex-Windows users that need the familiarity of Windows and want a stable experience that “just works”.
What can happen if I just keep my old pc on win 10 without the security updates. I mean, it’s just a basic steaming / gaming and project archive computer. I already have backup of the important stuff.
Exploit of vulnerabilities. Hackers continually try to break things. It could be a sketchy download, but also could just be a website you visit that sends certains packets to your PC that changes state of some other thing and then they inject the malware to monitor your passwords or banking session cookie or something.
If you never use that system for critical stuff you are probably OK, but if that system gets infected then the other devices on your home network will be the next target.
Might be worth trying bazziteOS with steam one day and adjusting Proton compatibility per game to see if you get all your titles working.
Luckily my steam library is all working with Linux, but I don’t play triple A kernel anticheat games
You can.
Question is “why”? Because these basic things you can do with Linux. And do it better, because Linux usually uses less resources.
And you get the needed security updates.