The period of Home windows 10 is sort of over. On Oct. 14, Microsoft will probably be stopping Windows 10 support, and there will probably be no extra updates to the OS. If you cannot improve to Home windows 11, do not panic. For $30 you’ll be able to snag a 12 months of safety updates to maintain your OS secure. Alternatively, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of this free choice by enabling cloud backup and connecting it to your OneDrive account.
The power to get free updates on Home windows 10 is a fairly large deal as a result of it’s nonetheless essentially the most broadly used Home windows OS, accounting for just over 53% of installs as of Could 2025. That leaves hundreds of thousands of individuals with out safety help in only a month until they improve. The cloud backup choice offers customers a approach out with out costing them any cash.
The one potential challenge is OneDrive. Anybody with a Microsoft account will get as much as 5GB of storage without spending a dime. Nevertheless, as The Verge points out, some backups might exceed this limitation, requiring customers to buy a month-to-month or yearly plan. At $2 a month for 100GB of cloud storage, a 12 months of OneDrive nonetheless prices lower than the $30 for a 12 months of further safety updates, however it might nonetheless trigger frustration amongst some clients.
Home windows 10 was launched greater than a decade in the past, in July 2015.
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Microsoft is providing a 12 months of Home windows 10 safety updates, however there’s a catch.
The right way to get Home windows 10 safety updates without spending a dime
Per Microsoft’s blog post, there at the moment are three choices for individuals who need to keep on Home windows 10 and nonetheless obtain safety updates:
These choices can be found now. Microsoft started providing its Prolonged Safety Updates program in July. Signing up for this feature will assure updates till Oct. 13, 2026, though companies could have the choice to buy as much as three years of further updates. So, this is not a long-term answer, however moderately offers you extra time to improve to Home windows 11.
It has been an uphill battle for Microsoft, as folks have been reluctant to improve their present {hardware}. There are myriad differences between the two working programs, however Microsoft’s string of unpopular decisions together with Windows 11 compatibility issues have saved the prior technology OS round lots longer than it usually can be.
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