Dates to Remember: 14th October 2025 Windows 10 Goes Out of Support April 4, 2024 – Posted in: Cyber Security, Dates to Remember, IT Support
Windows 10 goes out of support on the 14th of October 2025.
Already?!!
Yes. It was released in July 2015. It’ll have been out for ten years in July 2025 – and ten years is the usual lifespan of a Windows operating system. Windows 11 has been out for four years already. Bearing in mind that guidelines are to replace your laptop or computer every three to five years, by the time Windows 10 goes out of support you’ll have had five years to buy a Windows 11 one.
10 Years?
It has been ten years.
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014</td style=”padding: 5px;”> | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| W XP | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | End of Support |
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| W Vista | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | End of Support |
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| W 7 | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | End of Support |
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| W 8(.1) | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | End of Support |
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| W 10 | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | End of Support |
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| W 11 | Release | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Does It Matter to Me?
It should. Once an operating system is out of support it will no longer get security updates. If you’ve seen our What’s New Wednesday posts you’ll know that security flaws are constantly being found and patched. Once Microsoft stop supporting an operating system people will still be finding and publishing flaws – but they won’t be being patched any more. The longer a computer has been out of support, the greater the risk it will be breached.
You’ll also start to find that more and more software won’t work with Windows 10 after October 2025 – if Microsoft aren’t supporting Windows 10 why would any other software provider?
But My [Insert Business Critical Software] Doesn’t Work With Windows 11
The first thing to do is to get onto your software provider now. Find out what their roadmap is to make their software compatible with Windows 11 and Edge. If they aren’t planning to do so before October 2025 you have a few options:
- Find another solution – it sounds drastic but software providers that do not keep their products up to date enough to work with current supported operating systems are likely to be insecure in other ways too. Making the decision to move with over a year to go gives you time to find the best alternative and plan and execute your move with the least possible disruption.
- Accept the risk – not recommended but a realistic option. You may find your cyber insurance won’t cover having unsupported devices in your network and the risk will only increase over time.
- Ringfence a machine – set up a device that is isolated from your network and the internet so it is much harder to infect and if it does catch something it can’t spread it through the other systems.
- Buy extended support – Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10 devices if you pay for the updates. It is $61 per device for year one and Microsoft have said The price will double every consecutive year for a maximum of three years. If you decide to jump into the program in Year Two, you’ll have to pay for Year One too, as ESUs are cumulative. They have released statement regarding extended support here.
If you’d like advice on how to deal with your Windows 10 machines or would like to discuss any other IT Support needs you might have please give us a call on 01245 265100 or email us at .