Security News > 2023 > December > Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Promised for Small Businesses and Home Users

Microsoft's Extended Security Updates program doesn't replace all of those options; ESUs just provide the monthly security updates from Windows Update and only cover what Microsoft classifies as critical or important vulnerabilities, which means no fixes for security issues you can mitigate without Microsoft making changes to Windows.

What's different this time is that individuals will be able to buy the annual ESU subscription for their Windows 10 PCs. How can I get Extended Security Updates for Windows 10?

There are specific editions designed for specialized devices like ATMs, cash registers and controlling industrial machinery or medical equipment that continue getting updates - Windows 10 IoT Enterprise Long Term Servicing Channel and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise - but those aren't suitable to use as a standard Windows desktop.

If you run a Windows 10 virtual machine on Azure Virtual Desktop, ESUs will be free for those VMs. If you're using Windows 365, you will get free ESUs for the physical Windows 10 PCs you use to access Windows 11 Cloud PCs. It's not yet clear whether ESUs will also be free for organizations using Windows 10 on Windows 365 Enterprise; we expect Microsoft to clarify this soon.

Microsoft hasn't published official figures for Windows 11 usage, but internal documents seen by Windows Central claim 400 million monthly active devices and while that's expected to grow to half a billion users in early 2024, Windows 10 reached the 400 million mark after a single year.

While the end of support for Windows 10 will push larger organizations to upgrade to Windows 11 over the next two years, the continuing strength of Windows 10 explains why it's getting new features like Windows Copilot, as well as support for new standards like Wi-Fi 7.

News URL

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-extended-security-updates/