Windows 10 stopped getting updates: what you risk and your three options

The computer starts up, the programs open, everything looks the way it did before. And yet since 14 October 2025 Microsoft has stopped fixing security holes in Windows 10. The machine does carry on working, that much is true. But every new flaw found from that date onwards stays there, open, until you do one of the three things below.

It affects millions of computers in Italy, and plenty of those computers are still perfectly good. There is no rush to throw them out. A decision has to be made sooner or later, though, and there are three roads.

What you actually risk (and what you don’t)

Start with what does not happen, because there is a lot of nonsense about. The computer does not lock up. Programs do not stop working overnight. Word stays where it is, so does the printer, and your photos are not deleted. Microsoft Defender carries on updating its threat definitions too, and Microsoft has said it will keep doing that on Windows 10 until October 2028.

What does happen is slower and sneakier. New flaws turn up in Windows every month. They used to get repaired, now they don’t, and the longer it goes on the more doors are left open. The real trouble is not tomorrow. It comes later, say six months from now, when one of those doors ends up inside a piece of malware doing the rounds by email or on a website.

The risk gets serious when that computer is the one you use for online banking, for official correspondence, for your tax return. If your Windows 10 machine is there to watch videos and write letters, you have more time than you think.

First step: can your computer run Windows 11?

You need to know this before you decide anything else, and it takes two minutes.

1. Click Start, then the Settings gear.
2. Go to Update & Security, then Windows Update.
3. If your computer is compatible, a message at the top says Windows 11 is ready for your device, with a button to download it. If it is not compatible, a notice usually says so.
4. If nothing is clear, download the PC Health Check app from Microsoft: it runs the same test and names the exact component that is missing.

The component that fails a lot of perfectly healthy computers is called TPM 2.0, a small security component fitted to machines from around 2016 onwards. Be careful here, though, because this is where good hardware gets thrown out for nothing. Very often the TPM is already there and just needs switching on, because on many machines it is a function of the processor, called Intel PTT or AMD fTPM, and it ships disabled from the factory. If the check rejects your computer on the TPM alone, have someone who knows their way around the BIOS look at it before you give up. The one dividing line you cannot get around is the age of the processor, because Windows 11 only accepts models released from roughly 2018 onwards.

Option 1: upgrade to Windows 11 (if you can)

If the check says you can, this is the right road for almost everyone. The upgrade is free, your files and programs stay where they are, and it takes from half an hour to a few hours depending on how fast your drive is. For most of that time you do not have to do anything.

1. First, make a copy of your files on an external drive or on OneDrive. Not because the upgrade is dangerous, but because a recent copy is always the smart thing to have.
2. Plug the laptop into the mains. Do not do this on battery.
3. Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, then Download and install under the Windows 11 notice.
4. The computer restarts several times. Do not switch it off when the percentage seems stuck: that happens, it is still working.

Option 2: stay on Windows 10, with extended updates

Microsoft runs a programme called ESU, Extended Security Updates. You stay on Windows 10 and carry on receiving the security repairs. For consumers, cover runs to 12 October 2027.

The terms are not the same everywhere in the world, and for anyone reading this from Italy the difference is a good one. In the European Economic Area enrolment is free, with nothing to pay and no need to switch on settings backup. Outside Europe the same enrolment is free only if you sync your PC settings, or you redeem Microsoft Rewards points, or you pay a one-off fee of around thirty dollars.

One condition applies here as well, and you want to know about it before you start. Enrolment is tied to the Microsoft account you use to do it. You need a Microsoft account with administrator rights, and that account has to stay the one you sign in to the computer with: stop using it to sign in to Windows for a couple of months or so and the extended updates stop. If that is already how you normally sign in, nothing changes. It becomes a problem if you were planning to enrol and then go back to a local account.

It is the sensible road when the computer cannot take Windows 11 but you still need it for serious things. It is a postponement, though, and the calendar says you will be back here in the autumn of 2027.

To enrol, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. If your computer is eligible, a link to join the programme appears and walks you through it. Terms can change, so check Microsoft’s official page on extended updates before you decide.

Option 3: give the computer a second life

If your computer cannot take Windows 11, you use it for a few things only and the idea of spending money does not appeal, there is a third road almost nobody mentions, which is changing the operating system. A 2015 laptop with a lightweight Linux distribution (Linux Mint is the one aimed at people coming from Windows) gets fast again, receives security updates for years and costs nothing.

It is not for everyone, and I would rather say so straight away. It works well if what you do on that computer is browsing, email, video and documents. It does not work if you need one specific Windows program, for work or for the accounts, because that will not run.

Meanwhile, three things that cut the risk today

Whichever road you take, these apply from today. Use an up-to-date browser, Chrome or Firefox, because most attacks come through it and the browser keeps getting updates even on Windows 10. Then, don’t use the account you do your online banking with as your everyday account. And keep the backup switched on, because if the worst happens a recent copy turns a disaster into an annoyance.

If you want to secure the rest too, the place to start is a password you can actually remember and turning on two-step verification.