Home windows 10 customers can get prolonged safety...

As we edge nearer to Windows 10’s end-of-support on October 14, 2025, Microsoft is throwing its extra cussed customers one other bone. The corporate previously announced that, for the primary time, customers would be capable to buy one yr of Home windows 10 Prolonged Safety Updates (ESUs) for $30. In the present day, Microsoft revealed that you’re going to additionally be capable to use 1,000 reward factors to snap up an ESU. That may very well be useful if, like me, you’ve got been slowly amassing Microsoft Rewards and fully forgot they existed. (You possibly can earn factors by looking on Bing, procuring on the Microsoft retailer and taking part in Xbox video games.)

To recap, the Home windows 10 ESU will get customers bug fixes, safety updates and technical assist till October 13, 2026. In case you do not pay for the ESU, you’ll be able to nonetheless maintain utilizing Home windows 10, you simply will not get any main updates. On the very least, although, Microsoft will proceed to ship MS 365 app safety updates, in addition to Home windows Defender antivirus intelligence updates, till October 2028. I would additionally wager you may begin to see loads of notifications nagging you to replace to Home windows 11 after this October.

Microsoft says Home windows 10 customers will be capable to enroll in its ESU by way of notifications and Home windows Settings. The enrollment wizard is presently accessible to Home windows Insider testers, and the corporate plans to start out rolling it out to normal customers in July, with huge availability in mid-August.

I can perceive why Home windows 10 customers could be reluctant to maneuver. It was a rock solid upgrade after the fiasco of Home windows 8, and it is merely annoying to readjust your complete workflow for an entire new OS. However I also liked Windows 11 when it debuted in 2021, because it provided a extra refined Home windows expertise. Microsoft has additionally addressed most of my considerations with Home windows 11 by now — for instance, you’ll be able to lastly see app names on the duty bar once more, as an alternative of getting them hidden for the sake of aesthetics.