Windows 10 use after support ends

theone8181

theone8181

theone8181

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Hi guys, I had a quick look but couldn't see anything that answered this question.
What is going to happen to windows 10 when support ends? I've got an old laptop (gen 3 i7) that still works, and I've donated it to the kids but obviously want it to still be secure online. I use Norton (I know some people will scoff at that :p ) but does an aftermarket av/firewall make more sense as it will have better support? I just don't want to spend crazy (or any:cry:) money on a new pc.
 
You can do nothing and use it at your own risk. Security software doesn't make up for an unpatched operating system.

You can get 1 year support for a low price, but that's a short term solution that puts you on the hook to microsoft. There are free options but that's a trap.

You can try installing windows 11, but I'm not sure if that'll work for such an old system.

You can install Linux.

You can buy a new computer.
 
throwaway4372 said:
You can do nothing and use it at your own risk. Security software doesn't make up for an unpatched operating system.

You can get 1 year support for a low price, but that's a short term solution that puts you on the hook to microsoft. There are free options but that's a trap.

You can try installing windows 11, but I'm not sure if that'll work for such an old system.

You can install Linux.

You can buy a new computer.
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Don't fancy Linux (and tbh it gets tiring people recommending it for everything, not directed at you, just a general observation).
Of course I could use man maths and upgrade my main pc and give the kids the cast offs :D .
It doesn't have tom 2 so don't think 11 will work, and I'm sure if it did it would chug a lot.
 
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People recommend Linux because it's come a long way recently and can definitely rival Microsoft Windows for most people now. Gaming used to be an issue but this has been majorly improved in the last year or so due to the Steam Deck.

For my main laptop I think ill be paying to upgrade to 11 as I use Word etc but my gaming PC will be moving to Linux as that's all I use it for. :)
 
Nemiyen said:
People recommend Linux because it's come a long way recently and can definitely rival Microsoft Windows for most people now. Gaming used to be an issue but this has been majorly improved in the last year or so due to the Steam Deck.

For my main laptop I think ill be paying to upgrade to 11 as I use Word etc but my gaming PC will be moving to Linux as that's all I use it for. :)
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I just feel it's a bit harsh to go "here kids it uses Linux" when I've no experience of it :p .
 
Just download the official W11 ISO, then Rufus, and use Rufus to create the bootable USB and patch out the TPM and other W11 requirements.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Rufus: Create bootable USB drives the easy way
rufus.ie

It will run on a potato if you patch it. If your current setup runs W10 fine, you haven't got anything to worry about :)
 
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theone8181 said:
I just feel it's a bit harsh to go "here kids it uses Linux" when I've no experience of it :p .
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True I guess but you'll be doing them a favour when they grow up and say they can use Linux as well as Windows. :) (Presuming they can figure it out- the new (ish) cinnamon gui looks pretty easy to use)

The only issue with Rofus is it works for now but Microsoft could break something in the future. Eg they have a major driver exploit and MS do the usual fix it quick approach and they patch some secure boot function that breaks every PC running Windows 11 without secure boot. Yeah, some bright spark will re patch it probably within a few days or a week but would that work for a PC you ideally need to work every day? Or have a backup PC?

Sounds like youbdo but most people probably don't.
 
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Do the bare minimum to get the extra year of windows 10 support, sync windows settings with a microsoft account.

Revisit in a year.

Then 10 LTSC, Windows 11, Linux or see whatever if microsoft add another option for free ESUs.
 
theone8181 said:
I just feel it's a bit harsh to go "here kids it uses Linux" when I've no experience of it :p .
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True I guess but you'll be doing them a favour when they grow up and say they can use Linux as well as Windows. :) (Presuming they can figure it out- the new (ish) cinnamon gui looks pretty easy to use)

The only issue with Rufus is it works for now but Microsoft could break something in the future. Eg they have a major driver exploit and MS do the usual fix it quick approach and they patch some secure boot function that breaks every PC running Windows 11 without secure boot. Yeah, some bright spark will re patch it probably within a few days or a week but would that work for a PC you ideally need to work every day? Or have a backup

Edit: it sounds like you do have a backup PC but most people probably don't.
 
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Nemiyen said:
The only issue with Rufus is it works for now but Microsoft could break something in the future. Eg they have a major driver exploit and MS do the usual fix it quick approach and they patch some secure boot function that breaks every PC running Windows 11 without secure boot. Yeah, some bright spark will re patch it probably within a few days or a week but would that work for a PC you ideally need to work every day? Or have a backup
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You sound pretty confused with how it works, you download the official W11 ISO and use Rufus to create a bootable USB, it simply patches a few things that you specific if you want to, then you boot off said USB and install W10/11...

I've been using Rufus to patch multiple machines for people for over 2 years and it hasn't been a problem, Windows updates do not remove what Rufus has done. So you're majorly overthinking.

If you're that worried, you can just keep a 32GB USB stick with the Rufus patched bootable USB in a draw, for future installs.
 
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deviation said:
You sound pretty confused with how it works, you download the official W11 ISO and use Rufus to create a bootable USB, it simply patches a few things that you specific if you want to, then you boot off said USB and install W10/11...

I've been using Rufus to patch multiple machines for people for over 2 years and it hasn't been a problem, Windows updates do not remove what Rufus has done. So you're majorly overthinking.

If you're that worried, you can just keep a 32GB USB stick with the Rufus patched bootable USB in a draw, for future installs.
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Nah I know exactly what Rufus is doing and it's tricking unsupported PCs to be supported.

I've seen PCs get stuck shutting down unless you update the BIOS and continually just restart and not shutdown so I've seen first hand how a Windows updates breaks how the BIOS or UEFI works (Dell 790 and Dell 7010 models, it was a while ago)

The Rufus system is allowing you to boot without secure boot when windows 11 requires it (among other things). If Microsoft force something that Windows requires to be in a TPM 2.0 chip you don't have then Windows will fail to boot. Or if they force unsigned drivers to be blocked or drivers be WHQL that secure boot needs that people are bypassing.

It will probably be fine for a while but eventually it could break due to bypassing functions Microsoft expect all Windows 11 installations to have.

Edit: Gen 8 CPUs have AVX2 fully implemented and Windows 11 decides to use something in this instruction set that previous CPUs don't support etc. Unlikely, but still possible.
 
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Nemiyen said:
Nah I know exactly what Rufus is doing and it's tricking unsupported PCs to be supported.

I've seen PCs get stuck shutting down unless you update the BIOS and continually just restart and not shutdown so I've seen first hand how a Windows updates breaks how the BIOS or UEFI works (Dell 790 and Dell 7010 models, it was a while ago)

The Rufus system is allowing you to boot without secure boot when windows 11 requires it (among other things). If Microsoft force something that Windows requires to be in a TPM 2.0 chip you don't have then Windows will fail to boot. Or if they force unsigned drivers to be blocked or drivers be WHQL that secure boot needs that people are bypassing.

It will probably be fine for a while but eventually it could break due to bypassing functions Microsoft expect all Windows 11 installations to have.

Edit: Gen 8 CPUs have AVX2 fully implemented and Windows 11 decides to use something in this instruction set that previous CPUs don't support etc. Unlikely, but still possible.
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Never heard of that being a thing.

Well it's been fine for nearly 3 years of me doing it so I can't see it changing anytime soon, and the Rufus team will be 1 step ahead and change the patch if needed, if anything changes, which this far into W11, I'd highly doubt :)

I've seen people install it on 20 year old hardware as I linked in the above video, so it doesn't sound like we've got to worry.

The OP is better off just doing this for now until/if there is a problem, otherwise it's just hypothetical fear by speculation and a waste of his time worrying for nothing.
This way he gets to stay on Windows, have full support/security, and breathe further life into that machine, and not have to run off to Linux.
 
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deviation said:
Never heard of that being a thing.

Well it's been fine for nearly 3 years of me doing it so I can't see it changing anytime soon, and the Rufus team will be 1 step ahead and change the patch if needed, if anything changes, which this far into W11, I'd highly doubt :)

I've seen people install it on 20 year old hardware as I linked in the above video, so it doesn't sound like we've got to worry.

The OP is better off just doing this for now until/if there is a problem, otherwise it's just hypothetical fear by speculation and a waste of his time worrying for nothing.
This way he gets to stay on Windows, have full support/security, and breathe further life into that machine, and not have to run off to Linux.
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The caveat with bypassing the system requirement checks on a Windows 11 install is that Microsoft do not guarantee they will automatically apply the annual major feature updates (eg. 23H2, 24H2).

That isn't necessarily a problem, it just means that people who install this way need to remember to manually apply these updates otherwise you will eventually fall out of support. Each of these major versions typically receive 2 years of security updates.
 
deviation said:
Well it's been fine for nearly 3 years of me doing it so I can't see it changing anytime soon, and the Rufus team will be 1 step ahead and change the patch if needed, if anything changes, which this far into W11, I'd highly doubt
:)


I've seen people install it on 20 year old hardware as I linked in the above video, so it doesn't sound like we've got to worry.
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Microsoft did move the goal posts with 24H2. It now requires a CPU which supports SSE4.2 instructions. You will never install that on a pentium 4 like that video lists in the details (didn't watch :p). You cannot bypass restrictions like this.

I know Sandybridge CPUs circa 2011 support these instructions. Maybe even the gen before that - I'm not sure.

andshrew said:
The caveat with bypassing the system requirement checks on a Windows 11 install is that Microsoft do not guarantee they will automatically apply the annual major feature updates (eg. 23H2, 24H2).

That isn't necessarily a problem, it just means that people who install this way need to remember to manually apply these updates otherwise you will eventually fall out of support. Each of these major versions typically receive 2 years of security updates.
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Future versions will absolutely change again but 24H2 does have an IOT Enterprise LTSC version which gets 10 years of updates from last year. They cannot change the system requirements on that now that it is out in the wild.
 
deviation said:
Well it's been fine for nearly 3 years of me doing it so I can't see it changing anytime soon, and the Rufus team will be 1 step ahead and change the patch if needed, if anything changes, which this far into W11, I'd highly doubt :)
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It's not exactly a patch as it's not modifying any files, it's a registry edit so if MS removed that feature there's nothing Rufus could do about it.

Having said that i can't see MS doing that because the intention of that setting is to make it easier for corporate IT dept to test deployments where they'd be well aware if requirement X is necessary for update Y. Probably the worst that could happen in the future is that an update won't install or a new feature of Windows won't work.
 
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