Windows 10’s official end of support came and went last October, and plenty of offices shrugged. The machines kept working, and Extended Security Updates kept the patches coming for those who paid.
October 14, 2026 is different. That is when Microsoft 365 apps stop being supported on Windows 10. The Office applications your team lives in every day, Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams, will no longer be a supported combination on that operating system.
What that means practically
The apps will not stop launching on October 15. But you will be running your most used business software in an unsupported configuration: no guaranteed fixes when something breaks, and a growing pile of unpatched issues over time. For anything customer facing or finance related, that is a risk that compounds quietly.
Your options, in order of preference
- Upgrade eligible machines to Windows 11. Free if the hardware qualifies. Many machines bought since 2019 do.
- Replace the ones that do not qualify. An aging PC that cannot run Windows 11 is usually near the end of its useful life anyway. Planned replacement beats emergency replacement.
- Buy Extended Security Updates as a bridge. ESU pricing started at 61 dollars per device and doubles each year. It buys time, but it is a treadmill, not a destination.
The businesses that handle this well start counting machines in the summer, not in October. Book a free consultation and we will inventory your fleet and price the path with you.