Friday, November 1st 2024
Microsoft Offers $30 Windows 10 Security Extension for Home Users
Microsoft will allow home users to extend security support for Windows 10 beyond its October 2025 end-of-life date for a $30 fee per year. This marks the first time the Redmond giant has offered such an option to individual consumers, as extended security updates were previously available only to business and education customers. While the extension will maintain essential security patches, users won't receive new features, bug fixes, or technical support from Microsoft. This decision affects millions of Windows 10 users worldwide who may be unable or unwilling to upgrade to Windows 11, either due to hardware limitations or personal preference. While Microsoft strongly encourages users to transition to Windows 11, which offers enhanced security features and AI capabilities, many older computers don't meet the newer operating system's stricter hardware requirements.
The company will begin enrollment for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program closer to the 2025 deadline. Microsoft will also continue providing Security Intelligence Updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus through at least October 2028, offering an additional layer of protection for Windows 10 users. This move can be interpreted as Microsoft's acknowledgment of the significant number of users still running Windows 10 and the potential security risks of leaving them unprotected. Using an ESU package from an official source like Microsoft is always better than sourcing them from third-party like 0patch offers, and it is a welcome addition for millions of PCs running Windows 10 today.
Source:
Microsoft
The company will begin enrollment for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program closer to the 2025 deadline. Microsoft will also continue providing Security Intelligence Updates for Microsoft Defender Antivirus through at least October 2028, offering an additional layer of protection for Windows 10 users. This move can be interpreted as Microsoft's acknowledgment of the significant number of users still running Windows 10 and the potential security risks of leaving them unprotected. Using an ESU package from an official source like Microsoft is always better than sourcing them from third-party like 0patch offers, and it is a welcome addition for millions of PCs running Windows 10 today.
118 Comments on Microsoft Offers $30 Windows 10 Security Extension for Home Users
3... We paid $12 for a Win license at everdeals247365.com and $30 seems rather steep in comparison.
The context is important. We can spend all day talking about how this opens the door for future cash grab during the regular lifecycle of Windows but like previous versions of windows, support will end eventually. It happened with XP, it happened with 7 and it's now happening with 10.
With windows 7 this option was only offered to companies, but quickly enough savy users found ways to apply those updates for free on their machines. Now they're making a small buck from it instead of restricting it to the few who will always find a way. Doesn't seem all that alarming to me
That said, a few weeks ago I had to install some virtual machines with 2 different versions of Win 11; one with 24H2 straight from MS and the other one with 22H2 from a company ISO. After working on both versions I can say Win 11 has come a long way and the quality of my user experience was like night and day. At this point I wouldn't mind switching to Win 11 provided I can find a suitable replacement for the start menu, which I think I've found in Stardock's Start11. The price for a 5 PC license amounts to less than year of ESU and provided their license terms are acceptable and my testing goes well that's how I'll roll.
I'm also keeping in mind the rumors about Win 12 releasing late 2025 about the same date when Win 10 goes EOL. It's still too early to tell but if Win 12 is a thing it might be a good idea to wait a bit and skip 11 in favor of 12.
You'd want to use that with Windows 10 anyway.
Business users on the other hand have a $61 price for the first year, doubling each year. Though businesses at least can write that as a business expense and deduct it from taxes and stuff.
Education gets a $1 price, which is mostly symbolic at that point.
I shared in the other topic how the 24h2 update screwed up the visual experience. I had to redo the visuals.
The radeon driver of my Radeon 7800XT is faulty. The previous and the current one. My windows 11pro 24h2 is only used for gaming. I assume would i work with windows 11 pro - i may find more issues on a regular basis. I paused all updates. My windows 24h2 originates from the official microsoft webpage iso image.
You may check pcgameshardware.de and other websites to see weekly articles poping up about Windows 11 screwing up functionality a or b.
Don't watch this video if you like wearing tin-foil hats:
If you want to talk about privacy/telemetry, I'd probably agree tho. Windows 11 has more more stuff snooping into what you are doing (regardless of the scope of the information that actually gets sent to Microsoft or the volume of it, or the reason for it)
Once bad actors have some of the information your security has been compromised and social engineering is far more likely to be relevant to you and therefore successful.
P.S.
Those 10 USD keys of yours... None of them are legal. :)
Most of AppX is also removed etc etc. Update obviously is disabled permanently who need that crap anyway.
Perfect system for my needs. 65 processes running in background and 1.2gb in memory used(with nvidia drivers etc.)