Qwik 
Since 14 October 2025, Windows 10 no longer receives security patches, bug fixes or support from Microsoft. The computer starts up as before, and that is exactly the problem: nothing signals that every newly discovered vulnerability stays open on it.
What it really changes
The risk grows over time, not overnight. A computer used for email, online banking or client files should no longer run on a system without security updates. Some software and some cyber insurers actually require a system that is still supported.
Option 1: move to Windows 11
The upgrade is free if the hardware is compatible: roughly, a processor released from 2018 onwards, a TPM 2.0 security chip, secure boot enabled, 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of disk. Many business computers bought since 2019 pass without difficulty, sometimes after a simple setting change. Allow one to two hours per workstation, including a prior backup.
Option 2: extended security updates
Microsoft sells an extended security updates programme. For home users, it covers a single year and ends on 13 October 2026. For businesses, it is charged per workstation, its price rises every year, and it stops in October 2028 at the latest. It is a stopgap, useful for a machine connected to equipment that cannot be replaced straight away, not a strategy.
Option 3: replace
An incompatible workstation is generally seven years old or more. Replacing it costs less than the hours lost waiting for it to respond. The old one can often be given away after its data is wiped, with another operating system.
How to decide
- Take stock: which computers are still on Windows 10, and which are compatible
- Upgrade the ones that can be upgraded, after a backup
- Plan the replacement of the others, the most exposed first
- Isolate from the network the machines that must stay as they are (controlling a machine, old business software)
And Macs?
Same logic: Apple only fixes recent versions of macOS. A Mac that can no longer receive the current system or the two previous ones is in the same situation as a computer on Windows 10.
In short: check before buying. We take stock, upgrade what can be upgraded and only replace the rest: see Workstations & hardware.