Win 10 Support End 2025

So I know this is approaching and my laptop isn’t compatible with an upgrade to win 11. Exactly how bad will it be to keep running it post end of support? For general browsing, online purchases etc. Will I be target no.1 for hackers?

http://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement

FFS the linking on the site is shit

If the above bypass is used, will the device still be eligible to receive future security updates, etc?  I can’t find a definitive answer.

Will I be target no.1 for hackers?

Given that W11 take up is pretty pathetic compared to W10, I doubt it…

Can’t say what will happen in the future but I’ve used the bypass to put win11 on computers it shouldn’t run on and they’ve updated ok so far

To be honest if you are just using it for web based activities and/or media playing activities then take a look a Linux… Something like Mint or Ubuntu work pretty much out of the box.

You can also fire them up from a USB stick to test them out before installing them ‘properly’ although they might run a bit slower that way.

I’d be running Linux right now if it wasn’t for gaming support, which is much more of a mixed bag compared to windows, as windows is still pretty much the definitive way for PC gaming.

Edit.. I suppose you could use some sort of hack/workaround to force win11 to run but I don’t think I’d advise that… If only because windows has become a bit of a travesty with phoning home all the time and trying to force you into the Microsoft ecosystem.

 trying to force you into the Microsoft ecosystem.

If you’re running Windows, you’re already in the Microsoft ecosystem. You have nothing to lose from trying to bypass the installation block. What MS is doing is the same as Apple – they cut support for old hardware and force you to replace it if you want to continue to get software support.

Thanks, I’ll try both Win 11 and Linux on my spare PC to see which may work best. Linux sounds like best idea 👍

I’m notoriously bad at predicting the future, but I expect some form of back-pedal from Microsoft at some point.  There is far too much hardware out there on W10 which isn’t compatible with Windows 11 (unsupported hacks aside which I’d want to understand the ramifications of before attempting).  They’ve spent a lot of effort in getting people onto the W10 platform and getting shot of legacy crap, the last thing they’re going to want is a split userbase again or rafts of people defecting to Ubuntu.

What MS is doing is the same as Apple – they cut support for old hardware and force you to replace it if you want to continue to get software support.

It’s not quite the same thing.  Microsoft aren’t trying to flog PC hardware for a start.  Rather, they’re introducing features which require newer hardware, which makes me nervous about bypassing the TPM2 check on install.  Sure, it’ll work today, but what happens when a feature update drops which enforces TPM usage?  Blue screen of death?  Suddenly unable to log in?  The bottom half of the Internet outraged at a problem of their own creation yelling “OMG Windoze is shit”?

I saw this happen with Vista.  People didn’t like UAC (the bit that goes “are you sure?” when it requires elevated permissions).  To be fair, it was initially poorly implemented.  The Internet came to the rescue with instructions how to disable it, completely oblivious that doing so utterly knackered half of Vista’s internal security and protection methods.

To be honest if you are just using it for web based activities and/or media playing activities then take a look a Linux

Sorry to clarify I use it for some light gaming as well, and ms office apps. Child no 2 is due an upgrade before mine so don’t really want to go shopping for 2 laptops if I don’t have to. Will see what happens in the next 6 months but would be a shame to dump mine as it’s perfectly useable at the moment

You’ll have to try it out.. But I’m fairly confident you can install steam, for example.. With pretty much zero effort or learning… On mint or Ubuntu. Might even be pre-loaded.

Of course some games might rely on directX 12 or 11….or certain features but there’s a plethora of games that don’t.

And the cool thing about steam is it probably shouldn’t let you download or buy a game of it’s not compatible.

It’s mostly graphics drivers for gaming that are the issue, but if you have steam I’d imagine it would give you a warning before downloading a particular game.

Windows 10 will be over 10 years old when support finishes.  Large numbers of people won’t care and just keep using it (see also Win 98, Vista, XP, etc).  In time as bits of hardware die, there will be a migration to Windows 11 (or 12).  There will be some bugs which will be exploited and MS will tell you (nicely) that it is your fault.

There seems to be this feeling that it should go on forever.  Just remember your Apple phones are slowly not working and how many people have a version of Android that is 10 years old on their phones.

If you really need to use the hardware, then (one of the may versions of) Linux is the answer.

There seems to be this feeling that it should go on forever.

As I’ve posted many times before, I’m (just about) running Windows 10 on a Vista-era laptop from 2008.  But I appreciate I’m probably an outlier!  The hardware requirements for Vista were a huge hike over XP, but they haven’t changed all that much since.  More disk space, more RAM if you’re jumping to 64-bit.

Windows 11 has doubled the RAM requirements (and dropped a 32-bit edition) and requires a TPM2 module.  This is a problem for most home users on existing laptops because TPM2 has only been around for a year or two.  Some 1.2 modules can be firmware-upgraded (and some are present but simply switched off in UEFI (BIOS)) and some desktops can have aftermarket modules installed onto the motherboard.

For corporates with a tech refresh cycle of 3-5 years it’s less of an issue.  For corporate customers, “you need to replace all your computers” is a difficult sell when they reply “but they’re working fine as they are.”  I’ve had this conversation time after time around stuff like ancient phone systems, they may well be working now but the manufacturer has withdrawn support so if it goes bang tomorrow we can’t support it even if we wanted to because the parts no longer exist.  We had shelves full of dusty old kit taking up space so that we could keep people ticking over on a Best Endeavours approach, but that’s a finite resource.  At one point we were buying Windows 10 machines and downgrading them to XP because one customer refused to upgrade their “working” systems which were incompatible with anything newer.  That’s just not sustainable, you’re increasingly going to hit driver issues for a start.

I’m notoriously bad at predicting the future, but I expect some form of back-pedal from Microsoft at some point.  There is far too much hardware out there on W10 which isn’t compatible with Windows 11 (unsupported hacks aside which I’d want to understand the ramifications of before attempting).  They’ve spent a lot of effort in getting people onto the W10 platform and getting shot of legacy crap, the last thing they’re going to want is a split userbase again or rafts of people defecting to Ubuntu.

I’m thinking the same thing also.  I have 2 PCs and a laptop, all relatively new and very usable with Windows 10.  I don’t really want to have them vulnerable come Autumn 2025 so Linux becomes a very real option rather than buying yet more gear.

The only thing stopping my main PC (which I thought was still fairly well spec’d) upgrading to Windows 11 is an unsupported CPU (Intel Core i5-7500 @ 3.40GHz).