Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in a matter of days, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. This change, which has been signposted for months, means there will be no more free security updates or software updates. There is a way to keep Windows 10 alive, if you don’t fancy Windows 11 or if your PC isn’t compatible. Here’s what to do — but you need to act right now.

Microsoft is clear: “After Oct. 14, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance or security fixes for Windows 10. Your PC will still work, but we recommend moving to Windows 11,” it says online.

But if you don’t want to do that, the ESU program gives you a year’s security patches, right up to Oct.13, 2026. ESU is designed to provide “customers with a more secure option to continue using their Windows 10 PCs… while they transition to Windows 11,”Microsoft explains.

To get this extra year of updates costs $30. However, there are two ways around this. You could redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points or, providing you are syncing your PC settings, enrolling in ESU is free.

Go to Settings, then Update & Security and then Windows Update on your Windows 10 machine. You’ll see a link to enroll in ESU, assuming your device meets the prerequisites. Select Enroll now.

It’s worth noting that once you’ve enrolled, you need to sign in to your Microsoft account at least once ever 60 days to keep the program active. For sure, that applies in the EU. “It’s not clear if the 60-day Microsoft account sign-in rule also applies outside the EU. But it wouldn’t make sense if only EU users, where rules are supposed to be easier, are the ones asked to sign in,” as Mayank Parmar pointed out at Windows Latest.

To be clear, ESU doesn’t stop enrollments after Oct.14 — you can enroll right up until it closes on Oct.13, 2026. But if you’re going to enroll, it makes sense to do it sooner rather than later.