Resources

Windows 10 End of Support: What Small Businesses Do Now

October 3, 2026

Windows 10 stopped getting regular updates on October 14, 2025. Then, in June 2026, Microsoft quietly gave home users another year of free security updates, through October 12, 2027. If your office still has Windows 10 computers, you may be wondering whether that extra year covers you. For most businesses, it doesn’t.

Here is what the extension really means, and how to plan your next step without a scramble.

Who the extra year is for

The free extension is part of Microsoft’s consumer Extended Security Updates program. It is meant for personal computers. Microsoft’s terms leave out computers that a business manages centrally: ones joined to a company network domain, joined to Microsoft Entra (the sign-in system behind Microsoft 365 work accounts), or managed with device management software.

If your office computers are set up the way a business normally sets them up, they likely fall into that group. A personal laptop that an employee also uses for work may still qualify, but that is a different problem: it means company data lives on a computer the company doesn’t control.

Windows 10 end of support for small businesses: your three options

1. Upgrade the computers that can run Windows 11. The upgrade is free for computers that meet Microsoft’s requirements. It usually takes an hour or two per computer, plus time to check that your business software still works afterward.

2. Replace the computers that can’t. Windows 11 needs newer security hardware, so many computers bought before about 2018 can’t run it. If a computer is that old, it is often slow and near the end of its life anyway.

3. Buy a little time with business security updates. Microsoft sells Extended Security Updates for organizations: $61 per computer for the first year, with the price doubling each year, for up to three years. The years stack, so a business that joins now pays for the first year too. It works as a bridge for one or two computers that run a must-have program, not as a long-term plan.

How to tell which computers can upgrade

1. On each computer, open Settings, then Windows Update.
2. Look for a message about Windows 11. It will say the computer can upgrade, or that it doesn’t meet the requirements.
3. If you see no message, download Microsoft’s free PC Health Check app and run its Windows 11 check.
4. Write down the result for each computer, along with its age and who uses it.

That short list is the start of a replacement budget.

Why “it still works” isn’t enough

A Windows 10 computer without security updates will keep turning on and opening files. The risk is what you can’t see. New security holes are found all the time, and an unsupported computer never gets the fix. Software makers also stop supporting old systems, so programs you rely on can stop updating too.

There is a paperwork side as well. Cyber insurance applications often ask whether you run unsupported systems, and an honest “yes” can affect your coverage. Businesses that handle tax, legal or health records may also have rules that expect current, supported systems.

What to do this week

• Make a list of every Windows computer in the office, including the one in the back room that runs the label printer.
• Check each one using the steps above.
• Upgrade the computers that qualify, one at a time, starting with the one that matters least. Back up before each upgrade.
• Price out replacements for the rest and spread the purchases over the next few months instead of buying everything at once.
• If one program only runs on Windows 10, call the software maker and ask about their plans before you decide anything.

Before you upgrade anything, make sure your backups actually work. Our guide on how to test your backups takes about 30 minutes. And if you’d rather not track every computer’s updates yourself, our proactive monitoring services keep a record of every device and install updates on a schedule.