Windows 11 holdouts, your time is almost up to forsake Windows 10 and begrudgingly embrace the CoPilot+ AI era on your laptop or desktop PC.
Microsoft is moving the Windows 10 operating system into “end of life” status, starting on Tuesday October 14. What does that mean? Well, as well as no more new features or fixes, the automatic security updates protecting you from the latest bugs and exploits are going away too.
There is a stay of execution for the most stubborn Windows 10 users, and that’s to sign up for Extended Security Updates (ESU). In the majority of cases that’s free to do so. This’ll get you access to the latest security updates as soon as they’re available, but that will only keep you secure for another 12 months.
Then you’ll have to take one of the other options Microsoft is currently presenting. You can bite the bullet and finally upgrade your existing operating system to Windows 11. You can check whether you machine is eligible by selecting Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates. In all likelihood, that’ll be a free upgrade.
If your machine is ineligible for the upgrade then you can keep using Windows 10 without proper security protections or upgrade your PC entirely. This is Microsoft’s preferred route, we’d imagine. That way it can get you onto one of those CoPilot+ PC machines teeming with the AI based features you haven’t asked for, otherwise you’d have upgraded before now, right?
Those features include Recall, the controversial feature that takes constant screenshots of your computing activity to turn it into a searchable database. It’s designed to help users rediscover items faster than the conventional method of trawling the File Explorer for what you think the file name might be.
These machines also carry the neural processing power required for features like Live Captions for translating audio form 44 language in real time, as well as generative AI imaging tools like Cocreator, Restyle Image and Windows Studio Effects.
Windows 10 continues to work just fine for the majority of people who are yet to upgrade to Windows 11. And Statcounter GlobalStars currently has Windows 10 at around 41% of the PC market worldwide. Windows 11 is yet to cross 50% either. So, either a lot of people are going to be signing up for those ESUs or there’ll be a lot of unprotected PC users out there. Can’t Microsoft just keep automatically extending the security updates if they’re going to be providing them to legacy users anyway?
