Repair Advocates Inform Microsoft: Cease the ‘End of Windows 10’

Microsoft calls Windows 11 “a more modern, secure, and highly efficient computing experience,” and customers have reported 62% fewer safety incidents with Windows 11 than Windows 10.

Those with computer systems that meet {hardware} eligibility necessities can improve to Windows 11 at no cost. Microsoft can be providing an “extended security update” program, the place Windows 10 customers should buy continued assist via Oct.13, 2026.

Jenn Engstrom, the state director of the California Public Interest Research Group, known as the “end of 10” a “lose-lose-lose” state of affairs.

“It’s bad for consumers. It’s bad for security, and it’s bad for the environment,” she mentioned.

According to Engstrom, it’s estimated that as much as 400 million Windows 10 customers worldwide have computer systems that lack the {hardware} to improve to Windows 11. In a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella calling on the corporate to proceed free, automated updates for Windows 10, CALPIRG and different organizations warned this could possibly be the “single biggest jump in junked computers ever.”

“When Microsoft stops providing security updates for Windows 10, those computers will either be insecure and unsafe to keep using, or else turn into junk and get thrown out. Less than a quarter of electronic waste is recycled, so most of those computers will end up in landfills,” the letter acknowledged.

Past campaigns to stress Microsoft into persevering with assist have been profitable. In 2024, Microsoft prolonged Windows 10 safety updates to varsities within the United States for 3 years after a campaign by shopper advocates. Pressure from a European consumer advocacy group has additionally led Microsoft to supply free automated updates for the following yr to Windows 10 customers within the European Economic Area.

“ We think that when people buy a device, they should be able to use it as long as they possibly can,” Engstrom mentioned.

KQED reached out to Microsoft, however a spokesperson declined to remark. The firm has additionally not responded to calls by CALPIRG and different organizations to increase free, automated Windows 10 assist within the United States.

Del Jaljaa, the proprietor of San Francisco Computer Repair on the sting of the town’s Mission District, mentioned he has seen a gradual drumbeat of shoppers over the previous few months coming in looking for assist with their improve.

“ I don’t know why they’re ending [Windows 10],” Jaljaa mentioned. “It seems from the working perspective that it does the same thing [as Windows 11].”

Jaljaa mentioned he has been telling his clients to not panic, and that in the event that they wish to maintain utilizing Windows 10, they’ll get by with a superb antivirus software program.

“ But those computers, they’re getting old too. They might just be forced to get a new computer,” Jaljaa mentioned.

Other teams in the correct to restore motion have began an End of 10 initiative, which supplies instruments and assist to Windows 10 customers to transform their pc to a Linux operating system to maintain it working securely.

But some info expertise professionals, like Vladimir Galant, see the “end of 10” as a standard a part of the expertise lifecycle.

”Sometimes you need to exchange outdated {hardware}. I don’t see an actual concern right here,” mentioned Galant, proprietor of 911 PC Help in San Francisco, which supplies outsourced IT departments for small companies within the Bay Area. “The majority of our clients understand the necessity to upgrade, because if something happens security-wise, they can go down for a long time, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”