If your computer has Windows 10
You’ve probably heard that “Windows 10 is over” or that “it no longer has support”. It sounds alarming, as if your computer were going to stop working from one day to the next. That’s not the case. Your PC still turns on, browses the internet and opens your programs exactly as before.
What changed on 14 October 2025 is something else: Microsoft, the company that makes Windows, stopped sending the “security updates” that protect the system against viruses and new threats. It’s as if your house stopped receiving new locks: the door still opens with your key, but it’s a little easier for burglars to get in.
The good news: they’ve given you an extension. The bad news: you have to sign up.
At the end of July 2026, Microsoft announced that it’s giving Windows 10 users one extra year of protection, free. Instead of ending in mid-October 2026, security updates will keep coming until 12 October 2027.
In other words: you have more than a year ahead to keep using your computer completely normally and, what’s more, receiving security protections without paying anything.
How to activate the free protection (in 2 minutes)
It’s very simple. You just have to:
1. Use your Microsoft account
If you log into Windows with your Outlook or Hotmail email (or have it linked), the extension is free. Windows will ask you to accept the enrolment in the extended updates program and that’s it.
2. If not, with points or paying
If you don’t want to use that account, you can redeem 1,000 Microsoft rewards points or pay a one-off fee of about 30 dollars. But for the vast majority, the free option is the email one.
And when it ends, in 2027?
Come October 2027, the program will really come to an end. From then on, Windows 10 will no longer receive security patches either. Nothing will happen the next day: the computer will keep working. But, over time, it will be riskier to use it for banking or passwords, because it will stop protecting itself against new threats.
My recommendation, without technical jargon
Don’t stress. Activate the free extension today (it takes a couple of minutes) and use the computer completely normally. If your machine is already a bit old (more than five or six years old), use this year to calmly start looking at buying a new one, without rushing or urgent spending.
In short: your Windows 10 still serves you, right now it’s safe if you activate the free protection, and you have plenty of time to decide what to do.
