{"id":108500,"date":"2025-10-08T09:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/108500\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:51:08","slug":"microsoft-issues-urgent-warning-to-millions-of-windows-10-users-as-support-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/108500\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft issues urgent warning to millions of Windows 10 users as support ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Support Support for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system ends on 14 October, 2025 (iStock) <\/p>\n

Hundreds of millions of people are at risk of falling victim to cyber attacks if they do not update their computers within the next week, Microsoft<\/a> has warned.<\/p>\n

A decade after releasing Windows 10<\/a>, Microsoft will end support for the operating system on 14 October, meaning it will no longer receive protection from online threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft will no longer provide security and feature updates and technical support for Windows 10 PCs,\u201d Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi wrote in a blog post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these devices will continue to function, they will no longer receive regular security updates, making them more vulnerable to cyber threats, such as malware and viruses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just over 40 per cent of all Windows users still run the old operating system, according to the latest figures from StatCounter Global Stats, which analyses billions of page views across 1.5 million websites.<\/p>\n

Consumer campaigners in the UK have said that an estimated 5 million computer users in the country use a device that still runs Windows 10 software.<\/p>\n

A new survey by Which? suggests that a quarter of those still using Windows 10 intent to keep running it after the update deadline passes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research suggests millions of people may be unprepared for the phasing out of Windows 10 next week,\u201d said Which? editor Lisa Barber. \u201cIf you don\u2019t act, you could become more vulnerable to hackers and scams.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as the increased risk of cyber attacks, Windows 10 users may notice that their devices are no longer working properly.<\/p>\n

In his blog post, Microsoft\u2019s Yusuf Mehdi noted that updating to the newer Windows 11 operating system was a \u201cnatural part of the lifecycle\u201d of software to ensure new features and innovations can be rolled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cApplications running on Windows 10 may no longer be supported, as the platform is no longer receiving feature updates,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, some apps may experience decreased functionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is free to upgrade to Windows 11, but a computer must meet the minimum hardware requirements in order to install it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou might have already received a notification about upgrading,\u201d a Microsoft post<\/a> about the process explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo check if your PC is eligible for the free upgrade go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and select Check for updates.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a device is unable to update to the latest operating system, users are able to enroll in the Windows 10 Consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program.<\/p>\n

This is aimed at reducing the risk of malware and cyber attacks through critical security updates, however it does not provide other types of fixes, feature improvements or technical support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system ends on 14 October, 2025 (iStock) Hundreds of millions of people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[21710,18,67728,19,17,305,67725,82,67726,12667,67724,67727],"class_list":{"0":"post-108500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-cyber-attacks","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-feature-updates","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-microsoft","14":"tag-technical-support","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-windows-10","17":"tag-windows-11","18":"tag-windows-update","19":"tag-yusuf-mehdi"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}