Well one month to go before Microsoft pulls the plug on free windows 10 updates.
Yep, no more ‘free’ updates. After October 14th, 2025 Windows 10 will no longer receive free security updates, technical assistance, or feature updates. You can keep your windows 10 a little while longer if you pay the security update fees. Originally Microsoft was just going to stop Windows 10 support all together, however, in true Microsoft fashion, they used people’s unwillingness to upgrade to Windows 11 as another way to cash in.
For what ever reason you need to stay on Windows 10, at least you have one more option.
The options so far:
- Pay the fee (ransom), and keep getting the security updates. There will be no more feature enhancement updates (which might be a good thing) nor technical support. While on the Extended Security Update program, Microsoft will be pushing you to use a Microsoft account to obtain such service.
- Upgrade to Windows 11, this is a viable option only if your computer is supported by Windows 11. There are ways around this, however, Microsoft warns that doing so might put you in the same boat as Windows 10 users. No support and maybe no updates either.
- Choosing another operating system, Microsoft is not the only game in town sort of speak. Keep your computer and switch to Linux. If you couldn’t tell already, I favour Linux Mint in particular, but there are many other Linux distros to choose from. There are other options as well like Apple, however, you very likely would need to change your hardware. In that case you might as well get a windows 11 PC.
- Do nothing, you are taking a big risk with this option. Hackers and cyber criminals are waiting in the wings for Microsoft to drop support for Windows 10 and Windows 11 on unsupported hardware. Without security updates, any new vulnerabilities simply won’t be fixed leaving you at the mercy of these bad actors.
Ever since Microsoft announced the end of Windows 10 support, I have been advocating switching to Linux Mint and using open source alternatives for the proprietary pay as a service software you are likely using right now.
Back then you had lots of time to acclimate yourself to the new way of doing things. But now, if you haven’t done so yet, you might have to quit Microsoft Windows cold turkey and learn the open source alternatives on the fly.
It’s not too bad though. If you mostly do things in a web browser or in an office suite, then there is almost no learning curve to using Linux Mint. It’s a windows style desktop (not Windows), so, if you are a Windows user (or even a Mac user) you will have no problems using Linux Mint.
Windows 11 does not support your computer? If your system is Windows 10 compatible, congratulations! Your system will most likely have no problems running Linux of almost any distro including Mint. There might be the rare system that might not be a 100% compatible, but like I said, maybe not a 100% and even that’s rare.
You might say: “I’m not tech savvy, I can’t do this.”
Well, I have good news for you! There are a ton of videos on YouTube that show how to do this. I have even better news, I already found a good video for you:
Can Linux Mint Replace Windows?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wMeTbUsky4
This guy is really good at explaining things for beginners, from installing the OS to installing and playing a Windows game. Another video from this YouTuber show you a more detailed video on how to set up an install USB “Try Before You Buy*” “*It’s Free”, actually, if you are looking for it, it’s called”The Better Alternative To Windows (and it’s FREE)” by Zac Of All Tech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P1ulmq0L_Q
You can check other videos that I think are worth watching here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt1tfkqCQOtqTVa2l47I-PzR0bQYZse_u
Your adventure to computer freedom begins now!