Still on Windows 10? The last safety net ends in October

Windows 10 officially reached end of support on 14 October 2025. Plenty of computers carried on regardless, many of them covered by Microsoft's one-year Extended Security Updates for home users. That extension finishes on 13 October 2026. After that date, a Windows 10 computer gets no more security fixes of any kind — and we are already getting the calls.

What "end of support" actually means

Your computer will not stop working on the day. It will still turn on, open your files and browse the web. What stops is the stream of security patches that close the holes criminals use to get in. Every month after support ends, new weaknesses are discovered in Windows 10 and nobody fixes them.

That matters most for the things you do online: banking, email, shopping, myGov. An unpatched computer is not guaranteed to be attacked, but it is steadily easier to attack, and antivirus alone does not make up the difference.

Check where you stand in two minutes

1. Press the Windows key, type "winver" and press Enter. The box tells you whether you are on Windows 10 or 11.
2. If it says Windows 10, open Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update. If the computer can run Windows 11, it usually says so here, with a button to upgrade.
3. If it says the PC doesn't meet the requirements, that is usually because of the processor or a security chip (TPM 2.0) that older machines lack. It is not something a setting will fix.

Your three realistic options

1. Upgrade to Windows 11 for free

If your computer qualifies, this is the obvious move and it costs nothing. Your files and programs normally come across intact. Two cautions: back up first (an upgrade is exactly the moment a tired hard drive chooses to fail), and allow an hour or two with the computer plugged in. Our guide to backing up properly takes ten minutes to read.

2. Replace the computer

If the machine does not qualify for Windows 11, it is typically six or more years old. Before you buy, it is worth asking whether the old one is otherwise fine — our repair or replace guide walks through that honestly. When you do replace it, the job people dread is moving everything across: documents, photos, email, passwords, printers. That is exactly what our backup and data transfer service does, and the old computer's files stay untouched until you are happy.

3. Keep using it, carefully

Some people have a Windows 10 machine that only runs one old program, or never goes online. That is a reasonable choice for a computer that is truly offline. For a computer you bank on, it is not — we would rather tell you that now than after the fact.

What we would not do

• Do not pay for "Windows 10 security" software from an ad or popup. Nothing sold that way replaces Microsoft's updates, and a lot of it is the scam itself. See that "Microsoft" popup is lying to you.
• Do not force Windows 11 onto unsupported hardware with online workarounds unless you are comfortable fixing it when a future update refuses to install.
• Do not leave it until the week of the deadline. Upgrades and new-computer setups take time, and everyone else will have the same idea.

If you would rather hand it over

Tell us the make and model and we will tell you over the phone whether it can take Windows 11. If it can, we can do the upgrade — backup first, then the upgrade, then checking your programs and printer still work. If it cannot, we will say so plainly and help you choose what comes next, onsite or at our Indooroopilly workshop. It is the same flat $135 an hour as everything else, and you are told before we go past the first hour.

Related guides

• Is your old computer worth repairing? — the honest maths before you buy something new.
• How to back up your computer properly — do this before any upgrade.
• Why is my computer so slow? — if the old machine is slow as well as out of date.