Windows 10 users can get extended security updates for 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points
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Windows 10 users can get extended security updates for 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points
Microsoft is offering one year of Windows 10 Extended Security Updates for $30. You’ll also be able to use 1,000 reward points to snap up an ESU. The Windows 10 ESU will get users bug fixes, security updates and technical support until October 13, 2026. Microsoft will continue to deliver MS 365 app security updates, as well as Windows Defender antivirus intelligence updates, until October 2028.
To recap, the Windows 10 ESU will get users bug fixes, security updates and technical support until October 13, 2026. If you don’t pay for the ESU, you can still keep using Windows 10, you just won’t get any major updates. At the very least, though, Microsoft will continue to deliver MS 365 app security updates, as well as Windows Defender antivirus intelligence updates, until October 2028. I’d also wager you’ll start to see plenty of notifications nagging you to update to Windows 11 after this October.
Microsoft says Windows 10 users will be able to enroll in its ESU through notifications and Windows Settings. The enrollment wizard is currently available to Windows Insider testers, and the company plans to start rolling it out to general users in July, with wide availability in mid-August.
I can understand why Windows 10 users would be reluctant to move. It was a rock solid upgrade after the fiasco of Windows 8, and it’s simply annoying to readjust your entire workflow for a whole new OS. But I also liked Windows 11 when it debuted in 2021, since it offered a more refined Windows experience. Microsoft has also addressed most of my concerns with Windows 11 by now — for example, you can finally see app names on the task bar again, instead of having them hidden for the sake of aesthetics.
Microsoft extends free Windows 10 security updates into 2026, with strings attached
Users of Windows 10 can still get a year’s worth of updates for $30. They can do so by opting into the Extended Security Update program. The program will be rolled out to all Windows 10 users by mid-August. It will be available for up to three years after the end of the current update cycle. For more information, go to: http://www.windows10.org/extended-security-updates/ or call 1-800-856-8255.
Individuals who want to pay $30 for the additional year of updates will still be able to do so. But Microsoft will also extend a year of additional Windows 10 security updates to any users who opt into Windows Backup, a relatively recent Windows 10 and Windows 11 app that backs up some settings and files using a Microsoft account. Users can also opt into ESU updates by spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, which are handed out for everything from making purchases with your Microsoft account to doing Bing searches.
These offers don’t formally extend the end-of-support date for Windows 10. But for users who don’t want to move to Windows 11 or who can’t do so because their PC doesn’t meet the requirements, they do effectively offer an additional year of free updates for the OS that’s still installed on a slim majority of the world’s Windows PCs, according to Statcounter data.
Microsoft’s blog post says that Windows 10 users will be offered access to the ESU program proactively via notifications and the Settings app. Given how aggressively Microsoft has used these and other means to push Windows 11 upgrades and new Copilot+ PCs, it’s at least nice that the company isn’t making Windows 10 users go digging to keep getting updates. Microsoft will test these notifications in the Windows Insider Preview channel for Windows 10 starting today. They’ll begin appearing for regular Windows 10 users in July and should be rolled out to all Windows 10 PCs “by mid-August.”
Once enrolled, the ESU program will support consumer Windows 10 PCs until October 13, 2026. Businesses, schools, and other organizations can still get up to three years of ESU updates, but they’ll have to pay for the privilege; the year of free-ish updates only applies to consumer PCs. Microsoft said recently that it plans to support the Microsoft 365 and standalone versions of the Microsoft Office apps on Windows 10 until 2028.