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Windows 10 Still Being Used, Often Unpatched and Insecure (theregister.com) 98

Posted by EditorDavid from the broken-Windows dept.
Windows 10 still runs on 16.9% of the Windows devices monitored by asset-tracking service Lansweeper. That's more than one in six, The Register points out. A year ago, the operating system accounted for about half of the machines in its dataset, falling to the low-to-mid 40% range by the time Microsoft ended standard support. The decline continued after that, reaching 18.6% in June, but Lansweeper says migration has now slowed to a crawl... Small and medium-sized businesses are particularly exposed. Lansweeper reckons that 21.4% of machines at small and medium-sized business still run Windows 10, with cost usually being the constraint that keeps the legacy operating system running. The exposure is greater in some sectors, with 23% of healthcare and pharmaceutical systems sticking with Windows 10, while consumer and retail devices hover at 22.7%.

According to Lansweeper's data, "a Windows 10 device carries an average of 1,903 active CVEs against 652 on Windows 11. That's a 2.9x gap." Esben Dochy, principal technical evangelist at the company, told The Register that "the Windows 10 average also includes devices that have Extended Security Update patches applied." [According to Lansweeper's figures, 14% of Windows 10 assets have applied Extended Security Update patches.] Part of the problem, according to Lansweeper, is "patch diffing," in which Windows 11 fixes can be reverse-engineered to find flaws in Windows 10. "The supported OS effectively hands attackers a map into the unsupported one," Lansweeper said...

Looking at other market share measures such as Statcounter, there was little change in the share of Windows 10 and its successor over the last few months after a surge following the end of support. As Lansweeper noted: "The easy migrations are done. What's left is the hard core: devices that haven't moved because they can't or won't."
Lansweeper's evangelist noted that in some cases there is no Windows 11-certified version yet for many medical devices and industrial or retail systems.

Windows 10 Still Being Used, Often Unpatched and Insecure More | Reply

Windows 10 Still Being Used, Often Unpatched and Insecure

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  • And it's entirely Microsoft's fault (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @12:41PM (#66246388)

    If they hadn't increased the enshittification by an order of magnitude between 10 and 11, and hadn't unnecessarily made perfectly good but slightly-older computers obsolete with Win 11, then a much higher number of people would have made the switch.

    Fuck Microsoft, and double-fuck Satya.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Did they really, though? Microsoft backported most of the Copilot AI and Edge/XBox/Office/OneDrive promotion crap to the later releases of Windows 10. If you were on the last 22H2 release and logged in with a Microsoft account, you already had about 80% of the Windows 11 enshittification installed whether you wanted it or not.

  • Still a user (Score:3)

    by dbialac ( 320955 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @12:41PM (#66246390)
    I get security updates, though. Windows 11 sucks and it's nice to turn on my computer and it still works the same as it did yesterday.

    • The way that I got Windows 11 to the benchmark of "still works the same as it did yesterday" was to virtualize it, feed hardware into it via IOMMU that it needs real hardware access for (GPU, sound, segregated PCIe SSD) to still get top performance, and then snapshot that root drive. Keep anything that requires fast disk access on the PCIe SSD, including the swap file.

      When they fuck things up, I revert the snapshot. Fuck you, Microsoft.

  • It's the only way baby!

  • No reason to upgrade. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by snowshovelboy ( 242280 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @12:51PM (#66246410)

    Win 11 has hardware requirements that aren't worth meeting for most users, even gamers. Add in the fact that win 11 has an inferior user experience, and its no wonder people aren't upgrading.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Jerrry ( 43027 )

      I'm still running Windows 10, but not the consumer version. I'm running Windows 10 IoT LTSC. It's similar to the consumer version, but doesn't have a lot of the crap, and it's supported by Microsoft through 2032.

  • Still used because 10 is current, right? (Score:5, Funny)

    by syntap ( 242090 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @12:58PM (#66246422)

    "Windows 10 is the last version of Windows" - Microsoft development evangelist in 2015

    • Well, Windows 11 is just a marketing name. It's the same codebase and same version numbers. The difference was almost entirely to get OEMs to ship with working TPMs instead of only shipping them in "for business" lines. Before W11, you could get a good GPU or a TPM, not both.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        And what was the benefit of the TPM requirement? Microsoft can now get Netflix to provide 4k video on Windows without fear that users might screenshot the movie. Yeah ... fuck you Microsoft, fuck you Netflix. No need to get a new CPU just so you can restrict me better. I rather pass your 4k video than get a system that cannot be modified.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Moryath ( 553296 )

        The difference was almost entirely to FORCIBLY OBSOLETE a ton of perfectly serviceable machines merely because they came with TPM 1.2 or less from the manufacturer, or they had a CPU "not quite new enough," because OEMs were screaming "we need to force people to trash computers and spend money buying new hardware from us."

        OEMs started salivating at Apple's "3 year old hardware? Fuck you, throw it in the trash and buy something new" sales model and demanded MS start doing the same thing.

    • "Windows 10 is the last version of Windows" - Microsoft development evangelist in 2015

      And he didn't lie. Windows 11 is a marketing name only. If you run an API call to GetVersion under Windows 11 you will get 10.0 as the result. Microsoft does not formally recognise Windows 11 as a separate OS version.
      https://learn.microsoft.com/en... [microsoft.com]

  • Even now after its insecure it just loads programs, its search bar works, its start menu just opens when clicked, it hasn't been pumped with AI shite, it predates the vibe coding going on currently at microslop. Why would I want to go to 11?

  • NT (Score:2)

    by methano ( 519830 )
    I'd still be using NT if I could. Every iteration is worse. Well, not quite. Vista was particularly bad. But the trend is very much a grinding enshitification.

    • NT was fucking garbage. It was unstable and security bugs abounded. Later versions were profoundly better. I remember getting new servers on Windows 2000 and it saved me from an incredible amount of firefighting.

  • Just make the switch already, there are plenty of rock solid Linux distros with LTS and with Proton you can run the vast majority of windos software including most games.

    Nobody needs windos or micro$oft anymore.

  • ... medical devices and industrial or retail systems.

    Microsoft wants more spyware so many businesses can't upgrade to Windows 11, for legal or trade secret reasons. The better question is: What happens in 2032 when Win 10 becomes totally unsupported? Maybe, there will be a decent competitor to Windows 11 (Eg. Proton), or hopefully, businesses have finished a slow migration to pure Linux.

    Another reason is, businesses have to choose between old drivers and Windows 11. A small business can probably afford to replace a few devices but a large corporation ca

  • I own and operate a movie theatre.

    The projector runs on Windows XP.

    The control computer that sets up the playlists and tells the projector to start and so on, runs on Windows 10.

    The cinema server (the gadget that feeds the movie to the projector) runs on Linux, as does the catch server (the gadget that the movies get downloaded onto from the movie studio/distributor).

    • I don't know why anyone would make an embedded hardware product run on Windows. You are asking for extended support nightmares.

      Everyone should have learned this long before Windows XP.

      • Meh... Saw the garbage company use an Ms dos program to enter the trucks that arrived. Fun part? The employees lived it. Just follow the steps the program prints on the terminal. They had a newer system got some equipment. It had a GUI. They hated that because they did not know where to click first. There is more to software development than security.
        • If they didn't know where to click first, then whoever was responsible for the UI did a bad job. Once the program's open, it should be clearly labeled where you click to get started, and how to go from one step to the next as you go. There are thousands of websites out there that do this so that a novice user can get everything entered in the right order without any guesswork, so whoever botched that job had no excuse for their failure.

      • And yet.

        Please allow me to direct your attention to the entirety of the medical device industry. Also the automotive industry.

        et cetera

        • Yes, bad decisions can be made by multiple industries. Good job pointing out the obvious.

          Meanwhile, I'll point to various industries that build for the long term, and Windows is nowhere to be found. See: Avionics. Even DAL-E equipment (not needed for safety, does not impact safety during critical failure) still doesn't use Windows, because it's shit and fleet operators are interested in supportable systems in their $100M aircraft that they need to keep in the air. Thus, you get designs focused around fa

  • With anti cheat companies and then expand proton to desktop apps. That would light a fire under Microsoft's slop factory,

    • That's already a thing, you don't have to "expand" it at all.

      Also, MS hasn't noticed, doesn't care.

      Proton is basically a wine sandbox packager.

  • Should not surprise. (Score:3)

    by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @01:47PM (#66246496) Journal

    When your next version is shittier than the existing version, a significant number of existing customers will say "no thanks" and stay on the existing version, because functionality always trumps marketing bullshit.

    This is not new. It's not new, even for Microsoft. See: Windows ME, Windows 8.

  • I'm a well informed person, I distinctly remember Microsoft explaining that Windows 10 is the last version of Windows [theverge.com] so anyone not using Windows 10 is either on an earlier version or a non-Windows OS.

    I mean, if it's not true then it would have to mean that Microsoft is morally bankrupt and maliciously seeks to deceive customers for their own benefit, should be prosecuted for false advertising, and broken into several parts because they operate a coercive monopoly.

  • I haven't had the energy to try out Linux and proton even though it gets better every day. Eventually Microsoft or valve will force me off it and when that happens I don't know what I'll do. I want to keep playing games and I don't play a lot of multiplayer games but holy Christ Windows 11 sucks.

    I can't even ignore all the spying and other bad things like I can with Android. Windows 11 is incredibly slow and it's constantly pausing and breaking my concentration and line of thought. You can disable some

  • Thank god The Register pointed out that 16,9 % is more than one in six, otherwise I would never have worked that out.

  • Well, windows 11 doesn't work, full stop.

  • Shrug. My machine won't run 11. (Score:3)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @03:07PM (#66246600) Journal

    Nor will my mom's machine, mother-in-law's machine, and wife's machine.

    As I depend on a software suite that doesn't yet run on Linux, I'm kinda trapped. My machine is studly and in fine shape. I'm not going to replace it at this time.

    So, Microsoft can continue clutching their pearls.

    Or.... they could perhaps come out with a version of Windows that doesn't depend on TPM 2.

    Or, I could bite the bullet and switch to Linux. I already have Mint running on a laptop, and it's pretty nifty.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      And new PC's cost an arm & leg thanks to the AI bubble.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jezwel ( 2451108 )
      It's good having test mules for these occasions, so you can run up an alternate OS and try a Windows VM for those specific requirements.

      • Unfortunately, the software I need to be able to run makes heavy use of the GPU. I don't think Windows VMs have that level of compatibility yet.

        I think the hot setup is to run it in an AWS instance. That way I could have access to the software from pretty much anywhere. But I don't expect that to work either.

  • Yes, folks still use Windows 10 because:

    1) Windows 11 now includes CoPilot, extra telemetry, Windows Recall and mandatory updates
    which continue to cause almost as many problems as they try to solve.

    2) Too much software still doesn't work on Linux

    My machine is more than capable of running Windows 11, yet I am still running Windows 10
    on it ( and have a cloned SSD with Win 10 on standby in case my running copy keels over ).

    I'm tired of having to upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. Win 10

  • I have a Broadwell era laptop running Windows 10. It's plenty fast enough to do office work and display PowerPoint presentations. It would be a shame to trash it just because of OS support.

  • I can across this recently: how to enrol a Windows 10 system in to extended security updates without having to have a Microsoft account. Just run .\Consumer_ESU_Enrollment.ps1 -local from a PowerShell prompt and rebooted.

    https://github.com/abbodi1406/... [github.com]

  • 652 on Windows 11 (Score:3)

    by eriks ( 31863 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @05:53PM (#66246776)

    Story buries the lede... 652 unpatched vulnerabilities on Windows 11 isn't really much better than 1,903 on Windows 10, since it only takes one actively exploitable vulnerability, though I realize most of those are (hopefully) not critical vulnerabilities. Course take it all with a grain of salt, since the article is basically an ad for a company selling Windows security compliance services.

    I know of dozens of people still using Windows 10 (without updates) -- at this point it's probably still not really a big deal for the vast majority of people.

  • yes. (Score:3)

    by devious_malcontent ( 2752947 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @06:36PM (#66246796) Homepage

    [According to Lansweeper's figures, 14% of Windows 10 assets have applied Extended Security Update patches.]

    I do know of a few people who have applied for the extended security updates, and while it may appear as if the computer is enrolled, it is not. Myself included, plus a few people who rely on me for the unpaid IT support that I am forced to provide despite no longer working in that sector of the industry, it's a rabbit hole I don't want to go down or a can of worms I don't want to open.

    I like to proclaim that I'm a native Linux user, but I've still got a few Windows 10 boxes laying around, occasionally I find myself going back to them, it's a nasty habit that I need to break.

    There is still Windows XP in the medical industry.

    I did have an experience with a Windows 11 evangelist who went to the extent of specking me out a rather expensive copilot laptop with half the spec of my Windows 10 desktop, 32gb instead of 64gb ram for example. Then they got fully really flustered when I politely declined, I've got a MacBook I keep up to date that I do all my secure transactions on so I should be fine...

    I don't hate windows 11 just never saw the need to upgrade to it and I could if I was to go buy a $30 TPM chip for my motherboard, but I don't want to, plus being on an unsupported platform means I'm free from the tyranny of government oversight that appears to be gaining in enforcement in recent times.

    I've always stuck with the idea that you should always keep your devices up to date so that they stay secure, but that also means you get new features, the problem with those new features is that they are absolutely shit, this applies to not only windows devices but smartphones, fridges all that other bullshit, nobody wants that, I'd rather just stay on an unsupported device and be happy, Just like how things were back in the XP era where you just installed the OS and then no one would fuck wid it...

    • I don't hate windows 11 just never saw the need to upgrade to it and I could if I was to go buy a $30 TPM chip for my motherboard, but I don't want to, plus being on an unsupported platform means I'm free from the tyranny of government oversight that appears to be gaining in enforcement in recent times. Oh, you just need to use W11 long enough - you'll hate it.

      My experience with W11 is reminiscent of the early PC days, where after days of futzing, people were afraid to turn the computer off when they finally got it to work. Only worse, because if you have to keep the computer on the internet, Microsoft will BOHICA you, and force malfunction on you. Not much respite.

  • VMs (Score:3)

    by julian67 ( 1022593 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @07:08PM (#66246830)

    If you need a Windows VM for a specific application or task then Win 10 makes sense. It runs pretty much anything Win 11 can run, and these days more than Win 7 can manage, and it's a little easier on RAM. No surprise that it's still widely used.

  • Some people (Score:3)

    by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Sunday July 19, 2026 @09:17PM (#66247010)
    Use Windows 10 for a weird reason. They require functional Machines.

    My W11 laptop after the last Windows update, nuked the sound drivers, nuked Bluetooth, and nuked the rotary knob for the SDR radio, rendering the unit non-functional. I emplaced a W10 machine which will be used until there is a fair chance that Windows 11 will reliably function, because this is like the third time Microsoft borked the system.

    And I can protect the computer myself, so I'm not worried about Microsofts "security through malfunction ideology.

  • On quite a few consulting gigs - I encounter devices that don't have a W11 driver that either exists or works properly. These companies rely on equipment that costs 6 digits for just the basic equipment, let alone supporting compute hardware. And until those companies or MS rolls out truly 100% working drivers.. they are not abandoning W10.

    Not to mention also, for some of their processes - there are particular certifications of process that are required to follow in order to keep certification validity. And

  • Frankly, I'd like to install Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 on my Ryzen box.. It probably flies at 32bits without all the clunk "modern" Windows has.

    It's probably amazing!

    Imagine how windows 95 would fly on a modern CPU.

    These old OSes ran great on less than 100 Mhz and with 8 MB of RAM!

    "Modern" OSes seem to struggle with 32GB!

  • I fixed Win11 on a fresh install (Score:3)

    by PhantomHarlock ( 189617 ) on Monday July 20, 2026 @12:14AM (#66247170)

    I learned from here on Slashdot the two best tools to deal with Win11 at the moment you get the first windows setup screen. Used the shell trick to create a local-account-only [reddit.com], then installed O&O Shutup10+++ and Winhance. I used those two tools to remove every single piece of telemetry, junk software, spam, spyware, AI and forced updates from the OS. All of this before ever connecting it to the internet. (I loaded those two pieces of software from a thumbdrive.) The result is a super clean install that just does what I want. This is an older Microsoft Surface so it needed to be clean to run well with limited RAM. It's my throwaway lightweight laptop for international travel. No personal information on it. This register article [theregister.com] is also handy.

    On my main machine I'm still happily running Win10. My browsing habits are pretty boring and I run Ublock Origin, AdblockPlus etc. in Firefox to keep anything unruly out. I used to run noscript but pretty much no sites work with JS disabled these days.

  • Critical vulnerabilities in July’s Patch Tuesday
    There are many critical vulnerabilities, so we’ll highlight only the most urgent ones. In our list, the CVSS score never drops below 9.6.
    CVE-2026-57092 (CVSS 9.9) — EoP in VMSwitch, allows escape from an isolated environment with full host compromise. A use-after-free vulnerability that allows a low-privileged attacker to cross the virtual machine boundary and gain access to the host. ZDI notes that a similar exploit was demonstrated at Pw
  • Most times it CAN'T be upgraded depending upon what machines it runs or software that isn't upgraded to Windows 11. Worked for a company that had those issues. We had a large autoclave to sterilize filling equipment for vaccines. It ran on DOS and couldn't be upgraded. Other machinery on Windows 10 couldn't either. An integrated controller went bad, manufacturer no longer made it, they had to buy one off Ebay and it took 4-5 days to install software on it to get it running right. Company lost $3-4 million

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