Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Windows Microsoft Security

Want To Keep Getting Windows 10 Updates? It'll Cost You $30 (pcworld.com) 93

With Windows 10 support set to expire on October 14, 2025, Microsoft is offering a one-time, one-year Extended Security Updates plan for consumers. "For $30, you'll receive 'critical' and 'important' security updates -- basically security patches that will continue to protect your Windows 10 PC from any vulnerabilities," reports PCWorld. "That $30 is for one year's worth of updates, and that's the only option at this time." From the report: Microsoft has been warning users for years that Windows 10 support will expire in 2025, specifically October 14, 2025. At that point, Windows 10 will officially fall out of support: there will be no more feature updates or security patches. On paper, that would mean that any Windows 10 PC will be at risk of any new vulnerabilities that researchers uncover.

Previously, Microsoft had quietly hinted that consumers would be offered the same ESU protections offered to businesses and enterprises, as it did in December 2023 and again in an "editor's note" shared in an April 2024 support post, in which the company said that "details will be shared at a later date for consumers." That time is now, apparently.

Back in December 2023, Microsoft offered the ESU on an annual basis to businesses for three years, one year at a time. The fees would double each year, charging businesses hundreds of dollars for the privilege. Consumers won't be offered the same deal, as a Microsoft representative said via email that it'll be a "one-time, one-year option for $30."

Want To Keep Getting Windows 10 Updates? It'll Cost You $30

Comments Filter:
  • No. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Big Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @06:47PM (#64910277)
    Simple question. Simple answer.
    • I wouldn't even use Windows 10 if they paid me $30,000,000, let alone $30.

      Seriously.

      • by Anonymous Coward
        I'd blow Satya Nadella behind a rusty white castle dumpster for $30MM
    • The software makers need to list the compelling features to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 for regular users.

      Selling the same old, same old operating system with 'lets put everything onto a cloud connection + AI' really does not even meet a compelling feature for the large majority of computer users.

  • by UnknownSoldier ( 67820 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @06:51PM (#64910293)

    People are still using Windows XP. I doubt "everyone" is going to abandon Win10 for the Win11 garbage. I'll keep using Win10 until it is no longer feasible because I don't want nor need even more spyware crap from MS.

    (Yes, I know MS never officially stated Windows 10 was the last version. It was the media misinterpreting Jerry Nixon's quote: "Right now weâ(TM)re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, weâ(TM)re all still working on Windows 10." when he probably meant: ... because Windows 10 is the current version of Windows ...)

    • by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @08:53PM (#64910545)

      People said that every time Microsoft decided to pull the rug out from under them, and then, when the cut-off date came, it was always quickly followed by a critical vulnerability in some core component that you can't live without and can't defend against without major loss of function. If you keep buying Microsoft, you keep paying Microsoft. Anything else is a delusion.

      • by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 ) on Friday November 01, 2024 @12:21AM (#64910907)

        For people still on XP and possibly Windows 7, but particularly XP, I think you're perfectly safe now because no malware authors are going to be writing 32-bit-only rootkits for a 20-year-old code base. Security through obsolescence.

        At a place I used to work we ran an unpatched (the superblock had gone and we couldn't reboot it) Sparc 1+ running SunOS 4.x straight on the internet and no-one ever touched it. Probably had no idea what they'd found, and in any case it was so slow they probably thought an IDS was blocking them.

        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          I wonder if hooking up XP machine to open non-firewalled internet today on install will result in same infection within 30 seconds that it used to happen in its heyday.

          Granted most consumer users are perfectly fine with sane safeguards in place regardless. Software firewall that drops all incoming by default to prevent worming attacks, and up date internet facing software to eliminate the rest of the vectors. Who cares if OS is vulnerable when there's no attack vector that isn't prohibitively expensive comp

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          I have had an IRIX 6.5.30 machine on the Internet since about 2004. It trolls the fuck outta sub-par wannabe UNIX gurus who lose their minds with "OW GAWD THAT'S INSECURE!!!". I simply turned off r* services, disabled most of the trivial TCP services in inetd, compiled a newish OpenSSH and let it rip. I use it as a XMPP server running Prosody and an FTP site.

          Foreign intelligence seems to love to try and hack it. I have a big Chinese-language banner a friend from Singapore created for me that has all kind
          • Yes, I can believe foreign intelligence might be interested in weird machines. That's because government machines are not kept up to date because there's no budget to keep things current. Whereas in the corporate world I get a branch new laptop that I never asked for, in the military they may have something very old. Budgets are weird in government and capital expenditures are treated extremely seriously. You get $1 billion to build a base one year, then only half a million for upkeep the next five years.

          • Slightly off-topic but since you've got a near-extinct system like this running, would you consider adding it to the cfarm [cfarm.net]? They try and keep older hardware available for people who need to test OSS code on it.
      • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        I'm trying to think what would qualify as such for win7, and the only thing that comes to mind is samba vulnerability. Which was patched for free iirc.

        Do you have a specific example of this for win7?

    • Market share figures demonstrate that no people of any significant group size are still using XP, and history dictates that a large portion of OS migrations do in fact happen at end of life.

      No one cares about you, or me, or the fact that I still have a Windows XP machine here as well. We are completely insignificant in the grand scheme of IT install base. On the flip side the choice of software for some major groups opens them to actual liability. I'd continue running Windows 10 if I were using it offline,

    • Are you sure? Did you read the numbers? Or are you in reality talking about 10 year old fact's, from an ever changing marketshare? https://gs.statcounter.com/os-... [statcounter.com]
    • by dbialac ( 320955 )
      A friend uses XP simply because he has a piece of hardware that won't work on newer versions of Windows. It isn't connected to a network, so it doesn't matter.
    • No, you're right - they pitched rolling updates forever as an evolving operating system.

      It was even said at the time that OS was a loss-leader for their office platform and it would be more profitable to not make Windows a billable SKU.

      I actually moved some machines from Win7 to Win10 based on this.

      Not that I ever trusted Microsoft after 1993.

  • Sounds like fraud to me.

    • Yup, only in the software world...just about every other industry calls these product recalls, not "updates" or "patches", and they are free of charge.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. And they are free of charge because otherwise the vendor would become liable for damage caused.

    • Sounds like fraud to me.

      Do you refer to the SW industry in general? Or to MS in particular?

      Because, if you are talking about MS, last time I checked, World + Dog, including FOSS starwalts like Red/PurpleHat, Suse, and Ubuntu did so. Also non-FOSS starwalts like IBM and Oracle, both for FOSS and Non-FOSS SW in their portfolios....

      • Do you refer to the SW industry in general? Or to MS in particular?

        Yes. The software industry in general has been guilty of shipping defective products with shrink-wrap licenses that disclaim any responsibility for the product. Microsoft has led that pattern. But this strikes me as extortionate, even for Microsoft.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The same argument could be made about lock manufacturers. They know that their locks are mostly crap, even the ones advertised as "high security" and "pick resistant" are often almost trivially easy to open with a low skill attack. Check out The Lockpicking Lawyer on YouTube for countless examples.

          Unfortunately they are on legally safe ground, even though some of the design flaws are a century old and well known.

          By comparison software companies who offer updates to fix flaws, rather than just fobbing you of

    • It is extortion, plain and simple. Which is a crime
      • It is extortion, plain and simple. Which is a crime

        Really? The product known as Windows 10 came out in 2015.

        Go ahead. Tell me how many other products from our highly disposable tech industry do you EXPECT to find full manufacturer support a fucking decade after release.

        Extortion my ass.

      • by chefren ( 17219 )

        So you would rather have them not sell extended support like they used to? How is that any better?

    • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @08:28PM (#64910499)

      Sounds like fraud to me.

      Base product comes with an expected XX months of support included.

      This is nothing but buying extended warranty coverage. Take it or leave it. There’s always the model under full warranty support (Win11) if you want too.

      • Base product comes with an expected XX months of support included.

        Except that is not how it was sold. No, I do not expect any fraud investigations.

  • by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @06:57PM (#64910303) Journal

    I guestimate 80% won't pay, and continue to use Windows 10 as-is. And being ubiquitous, it will get hacked up the wazoo without security updates, creating all kinds of embarrassing headlines.

    Bad biz move on MS's part. They should keep giving out free security updates until the share of Windows 10 drops below a certain threshold.

    I predict they will end up giving free security updates anyhow after a few such headlines.

    • I guestimate 80% won't pay, and continue to use Windows 10 as-is. And being ubiquitous, it will get hacked up the wazoo without security updates, creating all kinds of embarrassing headlines.

      Bad biz move on MS's part. They should keep giving out free security updates until the share of Windows 10 drops below a certain threshold.

      I predict they will end up giving free security updates anyhow after a few such headlines.

      The doom and gloom scenario you paint was already predicted many times in the past and:

      Did not happen when Win98 went out of support.
      Did not happen When Win2000 went out of support
      Did not happen when WinXP went out of support
      Did not happen when Win7 went out of support.

      Yes, the past is not a predictor of future performance, but I begin to see a pattern here...

      • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

        by JBeretta ( 7487512 )

        The doom and gloom scenario you paint was already predicted many times in the past and:

        Did not happen when Win98 went out of support. Did not happen When Win2000 went out of support Did not happen when WinXP went out of support Did not happen when Win7 went out of support.

        Yes, the past is not a predictor of future performance, but I begin to see a pattern here...

        The frick it didn't.

        https://www.extremetech.com/internet/it-now-takes-just-10-minutes-for-trojans-to-infect-windows-xp

        Only a complete goddamn moron keeps an out-of-date OS connected to the internet. You're probably one of those clowns that think the Y2K problem was much-ado about nothing too...

        • The doom and gloom scenario you paint was already predicted many times in the past and:

          Did not happen when Win98 went out of support.
          Did not happen When Win2000 went out of support
          Did not happen when WinXP went out of support
          Did not happen when Win7 went out of support.

          Yes, the past is not a predictor of future performance, but I begin to see a pattern here...

          The frick it didn't.

          https://www.extremetech.com/internet/it-now-takes-just-10-minutes-for-trojans-to-infect-windows-xp

          Only a complete goddamn moron keeps an out-of-date OS connected to the internet. You're probably one of those clowns that think the Y2K problem was much-ado about nothing too...

          And precisely that's the point. It only takes 10 min (in 2024) to infect an XP PC, and yet, we are not drowning in botnets.

          Wanna know why? Because people updated their OS from XP to something else when the time came, and they updated their OS from Win7 to something else when the time came, and surely they will update their Win10 to something else when the time comes...

          And, for the record, let me quote an snipet from my CV:

          Did the certification process for Y2K for all Monitoring Equipment.

          Telecomunications Monitoring Equipment, as in GSM. Project engineer at that time...

      • Microsoft released patches for both XP and 7 after their supposed end of life because so many people were still running it. Windows 7 has gotten updates this year still and Windows XP got some 10 years after its supposed EOL.

    • Satya is trying to speedrun being hated as much as Gates and his crooked business practices.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      MS has reputation left? News to me. Well, maybe with some clueless people, of which there are many.

      Personally, I think they have overdone it this time and many, many people will not want to or be able to get new hardware for what is essentially an OS downgrade.

    • That is just how software works. If it is a bad Biz move, then discontinuing every OS under the sun would also be a bad biz move.
    • Bad biz move on MS's part. They should keep giving out free security updates until the share of Windows 10 drops below a certain threshold.

      Why is it bad for business? Microsoft is a monopoly. They can do anything they want as long as they pay off politicians. You will buy their stuff or not participate in the economy at all. Your choice.

  • by DesertNomad ( 885798 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @07:13PM (#64910333)

    My company and our 10k+ Windows user PCs all run Win10. Heck, I don't even know if all the hardware we own can run Win11. The next 12 months may be epic!

    • by williamyf ( 227051 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @07:33PM (#64910381)

      My company and our 10k+ Windows user PCs all run Win10. Heck, I don't even know if all the hardware we own can run Win11. The next 12 months may be epic!

      If your company has 10k+ windows desktops, they probably have easy access to Win10 Enterprise LTSC (non-IoT) 2019, with support until ~2029 , or can pay for up to 3 years of ESU

      Do not worry, your company will be fine. Worry about your home computer, and your families' home computers.

      1 year of ESU will get you to 2026, and an aditional year of 0patch will get you to 2027, after that, you will have to sail the 7 seas, or bend the terms of the license so much that it will either resemble a pretzel or break. IANAL, you do you.

  • why these bitches getting so uppity? time to put them back tf down...
    • Linux distro offers paid long term support: oh my god, such dedication! Such a great idea! Way to support your product! All software needs patches, and it's unsafe to not have access to them!

      Microsoft offers paid long term support: oh my god, Micro$oft at it again, all software should be free, we wouldn't need updates if they coded it right the first time!

      • lmao what a retarded thing to say, no wonder you're mad, i'd be mad too if i had something that stupid in my head
      • by tepples ( 727027 )

        Desktop Linux distro also offers a free upgrade to the next major version of the operating system without a dramatic increase in hardware requirements and without a dramatic increase in user interruption to upsell a storage service. That's the difference between desktop Linux and Windows 11.

  • by GrpA ( 691294 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @07:53PM (#64910421)

    I find updates intrusive, problematic and cause lots of issues.

    The idea that windows critical functionality gets turned off to force you to update is just wrong... Notice your computer won't launch some programs, or some functionality is missing? Sound gone? Devices don't show up? Then magically everything works after the update, but it also worked before the update was pending so it's not the update that fixed the issue.

    Heck, I'd even make that $50 just to turn off updates and make them completely manual.

    Microsoft knows this market exists, but strangely has never offered this service.... I wonder why.

    • It's not too difficult to disable automatic updates in Win10. Not *fun* but not super difficult. It requires going into the registry and taking permissions control of specific registry keys, which prevents Windows from accessing them entirely. Since Windows can't access these keys, the services functionally no longer exist and so can't be run. They don't even show up in the Services list. You can restore functionality by restoring the permissions.

      This does break the Microsoft Store but really that's kind of

    • Updates intrusive? They are for YOUR safety first and foremost. No. Nope. It is not updates you find intrusive as such, but the way MS want it to be executed on your machine.
    • Do you also find the concept of 'I need to follow driving laws and have a drivers license in order to drive on public roads' an intolerable affront to your Sovereign Rights and Liberties?
  • I didn't pay for Windows 10, and I'm not gonna start now lol.

    As long as they don't brick the OS after end of life, but I suspect it will fail under its own accord because of its dependence on internet-based services.

    I must admit if there was an option to pay not to get features I would consider it, it seems almost a better deal, the OS has always been vulnerable to attack, it was a good middle ground of user friendliness, large software catalogue and ease of use that made it attractive in the first place, now it's just full of AI bullshit and ads.

    Yes, I have a computer running Linux, I'll use that.

    It kinda feels like Microsoft has created a problem in really wanting users to use Windows 11, and a lot of them are very resistant to it and we all know the reason why, it's pretty much spyware at this point.

    There is a continued loss of user agency when it comes to customization and freedom when using the OS, I do use Windows 11 at work but I'd hate to be a regular user who doesn't have admin rights, I've had to put a heap of customizations in it to make it usable in my opinion, and I know Microsoft would very much not like that to be a thing moving forward.

    Rest in peace Windows 7 (and to a lesser extent Windows 10).
  • by Mirnotoriety ( 10462951 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @08:17PM (#64910473)
    Why won't Windows 10 allow the creation of a bootable full system backup on a USB device?
    • Why won't Windows 10 allow the creation of a bootable full system backup on a USB device?

      As long as it backs up to an iSCSI target with a drive letter, all is ok.

      More seriously, microsoft is always under scrutiny (and for good reason) for anti-monopolistic practices. When microsoft even hinted about putting a native antivirus on Windows (defender), every antivirus company cried and garnished teeth in front of the FTC, DoJ and Europe. The onus was on microsoft to convince the regulators to allow them to put it.

      that's why you/we often time do not have some apps out of box, or get eunuch versions

      • > As long as it backs up to an iSCSI target with a drive letter, all is ok.

        All I want to do is create a bootable recovery image on a locally connected USB drive.
        • There are plenty of free software tools to do this. For example EaseUS ToDo and Clonezilla, among others.

          If you want to use Windows software only, then read up on Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM.exe)

          DISM lets you create your own WIM files that you can use to backup a partition. Most WinPE environments include DISM so you can both image and restore from a bootable USB drive. DISM also works with the shadow copy of running files so you can image a disk while you are using it, IIRC. There a

          • DISM overview [microsoft.com]: Yet more Microsoft undocumentation :(

            From ChatGPT:

            1. Prepare the USB using diskmgmt.msc
            2. Make the USB Bootable using Windows 10 Installation Media
            3. Use DISM to capture the Windows partition (usually C:) as a .wim file.
            4. Dism /capture-image /imagefile:D:\WindowsBackup\install.wim /capturedir:C:\ /name:"WindowsBackup" /compress:max /checkintegrity
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Because under that shiny surface Windows is _primitive_.

      Try doing this on Linux and the only real hurdle might be a BIOS that cannot boot from the USB storage you are using. And these have gotten rare.

    • Because that is how modern windows are created to work. But dont worry. You can always use Linux. Just DD the drive and you have a full system backup. New hardware, like in new machine? Dont worry. As long as the hardware can use the old drive, you just swap drives, and keep chugging ahead like nothing has happened.
  • by mick232 ( 1610795 ) on Thursday October 31, 2024 @09:47PM (#64910661)
    of getting the update through Windows Update. I'm pretty sure you can just manually download the file from somewhere free of charge.
    • of getting the update through Windows Update. I'm pretty sure you can just manually download the file from somewhere free of charge.

      For people and companies acustomed to the 7 seas, no biggie, but for people or companies with liability or certification concerns, better do it on the up-and-up.

  • Why can't Microsoft release the source code of this old OS so that the community could maintain it without any cost to Microsoft?

  • Demanding payment for fixing critical vulnerabilities in your own software is pretty fucked up.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      I completely agree.

      • I agree too. I think Sony should still produce part replacements for all their VHS players made in the 90s. Delorean should also go back in business for free and produce all the parts to their degenerate single car.
    • by djgl ( 6202552 )

      See the EU's Cyber Resilience Act proposal from 2022, Appendix I, 2 (8).

      • by djgl ( 6202552 )
        Never mind. The final text of the CRA weakens this point:

        Manufacturers of products with digital elements shall:
        ...
        (8) ensure that, where security updates are available to address identified security issues, they are disseminated without delay and, unless otherwise agreed between a manufacturer and a business user in relation to a tailor-made product with digital elements, free of charge, accompanied by advisory messages providing users with the relevant information, including on potential action to be taken.

  • What's to stop a paid update on one PC to "share" it to others via the magic of Microsoft's P2P delivery system for updates?

    A small business could pay for one of it's PCs to receive updates, then turn on "Allow downloads from PCs on my local network"

    or even allow "PCs on the internet"

    Unless MS ties the updates to a singe licence.

  • Every OS, ever, has expired at some point.. Windows 10 is set to expire... It's been a decade.. Y'all were warned plenty of time in advance. $30 and you can keep your joke of an OS for a whole extra year.

    I wish I could still be on Windows 7. I loved that OS... I honestly don't understand how anyone could like Windows 10. Ugly-ass, POS, smart-phone looking, telemetry riddled pile of code designed to extract money out of you. MS stopped giving a shit about quality and the user experience two decades ag

  • Maybe H popular but: this is good for most people I know. But also it's too fucking late now because Microsoft have been saying Windows 10 is EOL and shoving Windows 11 in their faces non-stop for over a year now (years?), including using dark pattern to basically trick people into upgrading.

    My dad held off upgrading his office PCs until literally last week before finally caving, concerned it was getting too close because of all the nagging Windows does. If he'd known this was an option he absolutely would

  • This should be illegal. As long as a product gets any security updates at all, it should be legally required to give them to everybody and without charge. After all, every security update addresses a product defect.

  • MS won't support windows 11 on my not so old ryzen machine and i don't feel like buying new hardware to give MS more $
  • If you look up the update packages at https://www.catalog.update.mic... [microsoft.com] - will they still appear there?

    If yes, then all you are paying for is the Windows Update daemon to run. But since everything is just part of a single update these days, it's not exactly going to be difficult just to download those from the catalog.

  • I'm working with an organization that hit the Windows 10 EOL issue and I found that you can legally get the Windows 11 upgrade for $15 per machine. [tomshardware.com]

    I had suggested Linux for a few of there machines but they just hissed and snarled.

    • As I understand it, the practical problem with upgrading to Windows 11 isn't the price of the license but the steep increase in hardware requirements and the steep increase in user interruption to upsell a data storage subscription.

      • I don't doubt that is and issue for many but not all. If not for me, an NPO that I work with (entirely [mis]managed by elderly people) was going to replace all their computers (only 2 years old!) because nobody else there is tech savvy in the least. Their hearts are in the right place but damn they don't know jack about computers.

  • Windows is so annoying anyway and Linux has so many OS options for all ranges of people.....and it's free. I've only kept Windows around because I tend to help other family members who still use it but I can always just set up a virtual machine and use it for anything windows related but the main OS is one of the common distros like Ubuntu or Mint or some such variant......plus if you have any technical experience using VirtualBox or one of the other virtual environments you can easily try a bunch of distr

"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." -- Vince Lombardi, football coach

Working...