Heba Al-Sayed wrote Saturday, April 06, 2024 09:00 PM
Although launched Windows 11Millions of people are still unable to end their relationship with Windows 10, and the latest figures indicate that this old operating system remains the most popular in the world with a market share of more than 60%.
This may all be about to change as Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 next year, leaving people who have it installed facing a difficult and expensive decision – either buy a new Windows 11-compatible laptop or pay the new fees announced by Microsoft.
The American company plans to provide expanded security updates for those who want to continue using the Windows 10 operating system after the end of support deadline next year.
This comes as the Mirror report suggests that keeping the device up to date and free of security issues will cost around £50 a year.
“Although we highly recommend moving to Windows 11, we recognize that there are circumstances that may prevent you from replacing devices running Windows 10 before the operating system’s expiration date so Microsoft will provide extended security updates,” this was confirmed last December. .
As you may have heard that Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025, you can enroll these PCs in the paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program.
Extended Security Updates let you get important security and/or critical updates for your Windows 10 PCs when you need extra time to move to Windows 11.”
The price of this service is $61 per year (£48), and Microsoft has confirmed that this cost is for commercial enterprise users and we are still waiting to know what home users will need to pay.
We’d expect something similar (around £50) for those using Windows 10 on their personal laptops, and while that’s a hefty price to pay, it’s nowhere near the cost of spending money on a brand new PC.
As many older devices are unable to move to Windows 11 due to compatibility issues, Microsoft’s ESU option will at least mean that users will be able to keep their current computers.
Microsoft says it will only provide paid support for three years after the end-of-life deadline.
