With the impending end-of-life of Windows 10 approaching on October 14th 2025, European consumer organisations have forced Microsoft to back down and provide extended support updates (“ESU”) for Windows 10 in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) at no extra charge for a period of one year.
According to Windows Central, users in Europe only need to sign into their Windows 10 PCs with a Microsoft account at least once every 60 days in order to avail of continued security updates.
This means that hundreds of millions of perfectly capable PCs will no longer end up being made obsolete for no good reason other than Microsoft’s planned obsolescence. This was confirmed in a letter from Microsoft to Euroconsumers, a consumer defence organisation, who successfully challenged that decision under the EU regulation called the Digital Markets Act. The letter has been published [PDF] and it is hoped to achieve further concessions.