But there are three things about the end of Windows 10 support that are slightly different from other recent end-of-life dates:

1. A historically short time window between when the operating system was replaced and when security updates stopped.

2. A historically large percentage of the user base still actively uses the fading operating system. //

3. Many Windows 10 PCs can't (officially) be updated to Windows 11 because they don't meet the system requirements. //

All of these factors taken together are setting us up for something we haven't really seen in the Windows ecosystem before: a majority or a large minority of active Internet-connected PCs that will suddenly stop getting security updates, leaving either paid support, a new PC, or a switch to an entirely different operating system as the easiest paths forward.

Now that we're a year out from the end of Windows 10, and because Windows 10 does not appear to be going anywhere, we're publishing a series of articles exploring alternatives to spending money, either on a new PC or on continued Windows 10 updates.