Windows 10 users face end of updates

Microsoft's plan to halt updates for its Windows 10 operating system in mid-October has raised hackles among campaign groups and left some users worried they must buy new computers to be safe from cyberattacks.

- MONA GUICHARD

A Microsoft Surface laptop running the Windows 10 S operating system in 2017.

(AFP)

Here is what you need to know about the end of support for the software.

Computers running Microsoft's 2015-vintage Windows 10 will receive no further updates from the American tech giant from October 14.

Such downloads were used to “regularly patch (update) the operating system because it had become the target of many cyberattacks’, said Martin Kraemer, a computer security expert with American firm KnowBe4.

Microsoft declined to answer AFP’s request for data on how many Windows users are unable to upgrade.

But Consumer Reports tallied 650 million people worldwide still using Windows 10 in August.

Another American outfit, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) estimates that up to 400 million computers are incompatible with Windows 11.

Microsoft has urged its customers to upgrade to the latest version of its operating system: Windows 11, released in 2021.