Windows 10 is clinging to life — but Microsoft's chaotic 'ESU' rollout and relentless Windows 11 ads are making its final days worse, frustrating millions

Microsoft is set to cut support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. This move has received a lot of backlash from users, with some blatantly expressing a preference for Windows 10 over Windows 11, citing flawed design elements and stringent minimum system requirements among their reasoning.

While Windows 11 recently surpassed Windows 10 as the most dominant desktop operating system, a public interest group (PIRG) petitioned Microsoft to reconsider its decision to pull support for Windows 10, indicating that it could lead to the single biggest jump in junked computers ever.

Consequently, Microsoft has seemingly provided Windows 10 with a "buffer zone", or grace period, after its end of support. For instance, Windows 10 users can enrol in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, which will grant them an extra year of support.

It's worth noting that the company recently changed the terms of the program from $30 per device to $30 for up to 10 devices. A Microsoft Account is also a mandatory requirement to make this payment. You can pay for the extended support program using 1,000 Microsoft Reward points if you don’t want to hand over any hard cash, either.

Alternatively, Windows 10 users can opt to sync PC settings data with the cloud via a Microsoft Account to continue receiving security updates from Microsoft for an extra year for free.

As you may know, enrolling your PC into the ESU program is done via a dedicated app that began rolling out in waves in July. However, October is fast approaching, and as it seems, a huge chunk of Windows 10 users are yet to gain access to the Extended Security Updates program.

Is the Windows 10 ESU programm already avaible? from r/Windows10

Users with access to this critical update should see an 'Enroll' button in the Windows Update panel under the 'Check for updates' button, allowing you to sign up for the program pending Windows 10's imminent death.

With a little over a month until Microsoft cuts support for Windows 10, there seems to be plenty of users who have yet to gain access to the ESU program for their own extended support. However, while speaking to Windows Latest, Microsoft recently indicated that the toggle allowing users to sign up for the program will appear for Windows 10 users before the operating system's cutoff.

The Enroll button is seemingly rolling out in waves, and so far, there's nothing you can do to trigger it or make it appear faster. Perhaps the long-anticipated button could start appearing for most people on September 9, 2025, when Microsoft is expected to ship its next big update for Windows 10.

An extended year of Windows 10 support is enough

While Microsoft isn't leaving Windows 10 users completely high and dry after pulling the plug on the operating system, thanks to its ESU program, several groups have come out to indicate that it's not a viable solution for the over 400 million PCs that can't upgrade to Windows 11.

The Restart Project group, which helped co-develop the "End of 10" toolkit to support Windows 10 users who can't upgrade to Windows 11, says Microsoft's move to continue pushing security updates to Windows 10 beyond its end-of-support feels like a last-minute snooze button, which only acts as a band-aid on a bleeding system. It's also calling on the political class to support:

"Microsoft’s decision not only accelerates premature disposal but also undermines efforts to extend product lifespans and puts additional pressure on resource use and waste management systems."

Elsewhere, a group called End of 10 has been pushing for users to transition to Linux as Windows 10's end-of-life approaches. The campaign encourages steadfast Windows 10 users to ditch the Windows ecosystem entirely and switch to a version of Linux on any outdated devices, using a lack of ads and telemetry tracking as the key selling points to get users to move over.

At the end of the day, the ESU program is a temporary solution for the issue, as users will still need to transition to a supported operating system, likely Windows 11. Microsoft hasn't been shy about its push to get users to upgrade.

Last week, Windows Latest spotted the company using a full-screen “it’s time to upgrade your PC before the end of support” banner after installing the August 2025 Patch Tuesday (KB5063709) update in Windows 10 (via TechRadar), so it's hardly a surprise.