Microsoft officially ends Windows 10 support today, but not for everyone
After nearly ten years, Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10. The operating system, launched in 2015, received its final mainstream update today, October 14, 2025. From this point forward, Windows 10 will no longer receive regular security patches or technical assistance.
All editions, including Home, Pro, and Enterprise, are now considered end-of-life. Systems running Windows 10 will continue to function, but they are no longer protected against newly discovered security vulnerabilities. Microsoft is urging users to move to Windows 11 or sign up for the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program to remain protected.
The ESU program extends security support for one additional year, until October 2026. Enrollment requires signing in with a Microsoft account and syncing system settings to the cloud. Users must remain active on their Microsoft account at least once every 60 days to keep coverage.
However, in a late policy reversal, Microsoft made ESU access completely free for all users in the European Economic Area (EEA). Those in the region do not need to sync data or pay to receive these updates (login still required though). Here’s one of my older Mini-PCs (Ivy Bridge era) still running Windows 10. Enrolling in support calls requires me to sign in, which is clearly the last thing I want to do. Guess no updates for me then.
Source: VideoCardz
Windows 10 supported by all GPU vendors for now
There’s no strong reason to abandon Windows 10 if your main concern is gaming. All major GPU vendors still support the operating system and have not announced any plans to drop it. While Microsoft may eventually phase out support in the next year (the final update cycle for Windows 10), both AMD and Intel have already shifted their driver development focus toward modern architectures-RDNA+, Arc, and newer releases. There was no change to Windows 10 with these newer releases.
Source: AMD/NVIDIA/INTEL
In short, keeping Windows 10 supported is the safer choice for these companies, as it remains widely supported and continues to host about one‑third of the entire player base:
Source: Steam