Microsoft is killing Windows 10. The long-awaited end-of-life date is October 14, just two days from now. Whatever happens next, there’s one critical piece of advice you must not ignore if you want to ensure you don’t lose all the data on your PC. And that’s especially true for the 200-million PCs Microsoft is blocking from updating.
If you’re still running Windows 10 on your PC, then one of thee things will happen this week. First, you may upgrade to Windows 11 if your PC is eligible. Second, you may enroll in the free ESU for Windows 10 security updates, if you haven’t done so already. And third, you may risk it, and run a PC that’s at risk after falling off support.
Whichever option you choose, the sage advice is to make an external backup of all the data on your PC this week. If you’re upgrading your software or your PC itself, then there’s always data loss risk and so a backup is good. If you’re venturing into the unknown of an ESU or an at-risk PC, then the need to backup is just as great.
You can create a full backup of your entire PC to restore after a failure. That’s the advice from Windows Central. But if you don’t have the time or the disk space, at least backup your files and ensure your key platforms, apps and services sync to the cloud.
Consumer advocacy groups claim at least 200 million PCs can’t upgrade to Windows 11. And while Microsoft does offer the 12-month ESU, the company’s primary advice is to recycle your old PC and upgrade to something newer — ideally with Copilot onboard.
If you go that route, you not only need a backup but you also need to use Windows 10’s own disk erase option to be assured that none of your datas is given away with the hardware. It’s the same advice for when you give away or resell a smartphone.
When it comes to how many Windows 10 PCs are blocked from the update to Windows 11, given Microsoft’s strict hardware requirements, the 200 million estimate is widely used. But we don’t know the actual number or how many have enrolled in the ESU.
Cyber risks have featured heavily in Microsoft’s plentiful warnings leading up to October 14, and they’re very real. As such, you need to take this seriously. If hundreds of millions of PCs really do fall off support next week, it will be a red-letter day for hackers.