Last October, Microsoft ended regular support for Windows 10. Plenty of SE Wisconsin businesses bought a year of breathing room through the Extended Security Updates program, or kept running and hoped for the best.
That year runs out on October 13, 2026. After that date, a Windows 10 PC that is not enrolled for year 2 gets no more security patches. It still boots. Outlook still opens. Nobody sees an error message. The only thing that changes is that every new Windows flaw found from that day forward stays open on that machine for good.
That is what makes this deadline dangerous. Nothing breaks, so nobody notices.
What staying on Windows 10 costs
| ESU year | Coverage ends | Price per PC |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | October 13, 2026 | $61 |
| Year 2 | October 2027 | $122 |
| Year 3 (final) | October 2028 | $244 |
Do the math on your office
The program is cumulative: a PC that joins in year 2 pays for year 1 too. Say you have 15 Windows 10 PCs. Year 2 alone is $1,830. If you skipped year 1, add another $915 to catch up. That is $2,745 to keep aging machines patched for 12 more months, and next year the price doubles again.
Compare that to replacing the 4 or 5 oldest machines now and moving the rest to Windows 11 where the hardware allows. For most offices we see, 2 years of extension fees cover a good share of the replacement cost, and you end up with PCs that are faster and supported through the end of the decade.
One more date to watch: Office 2021 also reaches end of support on October 13, 2026. If your team runs Office 2021 on those same PCs, you have 2 problems on the same day.
WHAT TO DO THIS MONTH
A 3-step plan before October 13
Count what you actually have
List every PC still on Windows 10, its age, and whether it can run Windows 11. Most offices find 1 or 2 machines nobody remembered, usually the one running the time clock or the label printer.
Sort into upgrade, replace, or extend
Machines that meet Windows 11 requirements get upgraded for free. Machines older than 5 years get replaced. Only the few that truly cannot move yet get a paid extension, and they get a retirement date.
Protect what you keep
Any Windows 10 PC that stays past October 13 without ESU goes on a short leash: no admin rights, no email on it if possible, and a firewall rule that keeps it off anything it does not need to reach.
How IDN handles this for you
We have served 1,000+ SE Wisconsin businesses since 2004, through every Windows transition since XP. We inventory your machines, tell you in plain numbers which path is cheapest for each one, and do the upgrades after hours so your team comes in Monday and gets to work.
Our managed IT clients do not have to track dates like this one. We track them, and we call you first. When something does go wrong, a real person in Racine answers, and our response SLA is 10 minutes.
- Clients served
- 1,000+
- Response SLA
- 10-min
- Years in business
- 20+
- Certified
- DVOB + MBE
Windows 10 questions we are hearing this month
- Will my Windows 10 computers stop working on October 13?
- No. They keep running normally. They just stop receiving security fixes unless they are enrolled in year 2 of Extended Security Updates, which leaves them open to every new attack found after that date.
- Is it worth paying for year 2 of ESU?
- For a handful of machines that run software not yet ready for Windows 11, yes, as a short bridge. For a whole office, usually not: at $122 per PC this year and $244 next year, the money is better spent on replacements.
- Can my current PCs run Windows 11?
- Many PCs bought in the last 4 to 5 years can. Older ones often fail Microsoft's processor and security chip requirements. We check every machine during a free IT assessment and tell you which is which.
- What about the $30 home version of the extension?
- The consumer extension was built for home users and also ends October 13, 2026. It is not a plan for a business with client data on its computers.
Find out which of your PCs are at risk
Your free IT assessment includes a count of every Windows 10 machine in your office and a written plan with the cheapest path for each one.