Microsoft has not been straight with us. We’ve been gearing up to kiss Windows 10 goodbye on October 14, 2025 when we don’t have to. If you are still using your Windows 10 computer, check out these details, because you might keep using your computer for longer than you thought. Windows 10 is getting a reprieve for at least another year.
The ESU Program
Microsoft has a program they call Extended Support Updates, or ESU. For past versions of Windows, Microsoft has offered this program to businesses only. It allows large companies and the federal government to keep using their old computers and continue to receive security updates to their Windows, after those OSes pass their end-of-support dates.
In October 2025, Microsoft plans to make this ESU offering available to everyone. If you are still running Windows 10 this October, you will have the choice of paying $30 to prolong the security updates that your PC receives, for one year. This cost to receive continued security updates will be per-computer, so if you have five Win10 PCs, you’re looking at 5 x $30 = $150.
Microsoft hasn’t made any big announcement about this yet, and you won’t be able to sign up for ESU on your personal computer until we get much closer to the October 2025 deadline. For now, you just need to sit tight and know that this is coming.
$30 to use your Windows 10 computer for another year may seem like a good deal. But there are even more details to consider:
Do You Really Need ESU?
ESU allows a computer to get new Windows Updates that pertain to the security of the operating system, after the “retirement date” for that OS. That computer won’t get optional updates, or new feature updates or anything else. Just security updates.
These security updates are wholly separate from your antivirus. If your Windows 10 PC is protected by the built-in Microsoft Defender Antivirus, that will be supported and updated, for free, until 2028. You do not need to pay for ESU to keep your antivirus up-to-date.
This makes it difficult to know which is the best way forward. Should you pay your $30 for the fullest protection on a Windows 10 PC? Could you forgo that cost and simply trust in your antivirus? No one can see the future here. It may turn out to be that this $30 is a needless cash-grab, or it could be merited if Microsoft ever finds a worthwhile security hole to patch. BlueScreen Computer will have to recommend that you pay this ESU fee for your Win10 computers, simply for liability reasons.
Criticisms for Microsoft
Microsoft is wholly responsible for the poor implementation of their ESU for Windows 10. While I am glad to find and report on these choices, they don’t immediately make everything better.
- This ESU offering is not widely reported or known. Everyday computer users are barraged with news that Windows 10 is “going away” in October. As a result, many computers are being hucked into dumpsters and replaced with brand-new Windows 11 systems. How much extra e-waste are we generating, because of poor communication?
- Windows 10 computers everywhere are popping up notices, stating that “Windows 10 will reach its end of support on October 14, 2025”, and that is wrong. Any lawyer or therapist would call that Lying By Omission. These older PCs should be showing messages that say “Free Support ends on 10/14/2025″ and then give a link to further details.
- Charging for these updates sets a bad precedent. If Microsoft sees a high adoption rate on this October’s ESU sign-ups, you might expect this to happen again, with future updates.
