How the End of Support for Windows 10 Will Impact Your Business

This year, Microsoft is intensifying its push to encourage millions of users still holding onto Windows 10 to upgrade before the operating system reaches its end of life in October.  

What does this mean for your business? Simply put, security risks are increasing, and Microsoft is urging all users to upgrade now to Windows 11 to protect your devices and data. 

But there's more. Microsoft made another critical announcement that may affect your teams and encourage you to act sooner, rather than later: Microsoft 365 Apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 devices after 14 October 2025. 

This means that to continue using Microsoft 365 Apps on your business devices, upgrading to Windows 11 is required.  

Extended Support is Available, But the Clock is Ticking  

For businesses still relying on Windows 10, Microsoft offers a temporary solution: a $30 (per device), 12-month extended support option.  

This service allows businesses to continue receiving critical security updates and bug fixes after the official Windows 10 EOS (end-of-support) date. While this can buy you some extra time, it only covers security updates, not new features or improvements.  

If your business plans to keep using Windows 10 beyond this period, this option may be worth considering – but it's only a short-term fix. To ensure long-term compatibility with Microsoft 365 Apps and stay ahead of security threats, upgrading to Windows 11 will eventually be necessary. 

Note: If you’re considering opting for a longer extension, you’ll be facing significant costs to maintain an outdated version of Windows, potentially diverting resources away from more strategic, future-focused investments.  

Applications May Still Run, The Real Risk Is Security 

Microsoft’s support document on this topic simply states: Microsoft 365 apps will no longer be supported on Windows 10 after it reaches end of support – similar to how they’re no longer supported on older versions like Windows 7, 8, or 8.1. This will apply to Windows 10 starting in October 2025. 

But it also reassures users, saying: “If you're running Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 device, the applications will continue to function as before. However, we strongly recommend upgrading to Windows 11 to avoid performance and reliability issues over time.” 

For your business, this means that while Microsoft 365 may continue to work on Windows 10 in the short term, the risk of running into performance problems or software hiccups increases as time goes on. The major risk? The lack of Windows 10 security updates (without a paid extended support option).  

As security threats evolve, staying on an unsupported operating system could expose your business to vulnerabilities. 

The Hardware Hurdle – Are Your Devices Ready for the Upgrade? 

A major issue for many businesses is that many Windows 10 PCs simply don’t meet the hardware requirements to upgrade to Windows 11. 

As Microsoft says: You need to confirm your PC meets the minimum system requirements for the update.  

For businesses with older devices, this may mean the only option could be purchasing new PCs.  

The implication of Microsoft branding 2025 as the “year of the Windows 11 PC upgrade” is to encourage businesses to upgrade their hardware. It’s hard to say, though, whether this push will ease the burden for companies, especially those facing the challenge of upgrading their entire fleet of PCs to meet the new system requirements. 

Perhaps surprisingly, market share for Windows 10 has grown over the past two months (despite the push for users to adopt Windows 11), instead of declining. There will be more information about this trend in 2026, but for now, it seems Windows 10’s grip on the market isn’t loosening as quickly as Microsoft anticipated. For the time being: expect more messaging from Microsoft encouraging you to upgrade immediately.   

Don’t Leave Your Business’s Security to Chance   

In case the urgency of this upcoming change hasn’t quite hit home yet, Microsoft’s latest warning came on the same day as one of its biggest Patch Tuesday releases in years. This release was packed with fixes for multiple zero-day vulnerabilities – the kind of security flaws hackers love to exploit before there’s a fix. 

To reiterate, this is the real concern: once Windows 10 hits end of support, those critical security updates stop. If you’re still running Windows 10 after that, your business may be wide open to cyber threats without a safety net. Hopefully this latest wave of emergency patches is enough to make you rethink the downsides of sticking with an outdated system.  

Avoid last-minute scrambles and plan the next steps today for your business. Book a free consultation today to get expert advice about upgrading, securing your systems and ensuring your business stays productive and protected.