Recently, the renowned U.S. consumer advocacy group, Consumer Reports, dispatched a letter to Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella. In this letter, they strongly advocated for Microsoft to prolong the provision of free security update support for Windows 10. Initially, Microsoft had set October 14, 2025, as the date to discontinue the free security patch service for this system. Such a decision could potentially leave millions of users, who are unable to upgrade to Windows 11, vulnerable to various security threats.

Microsoft has, however, made an announcement. It stated that users can gain an extra year of free Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10, extending the coverage until October 13, 2026. To be eligible for this, users need to log into their Microsoft account and activate the cloud backup feature. Moreover, there are alternative ways for users to qualify for the ESU. They can either redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points or opt to directly pay a fee of $30.