Euroconsumers and the Belgian consumer organization Testaankoop have scored an important victory in their battle with Microsoft over the future of Windows 10. After more than two years of lobbying, Microsoft has confirmed that users in the European Economic Area will receive free security updates for an extra year.
The so-called Extended Security Updates will now continue until October 13, 2026. The news means that millions of users will remain protected against security breaches for another year. This is without them being required to register with Microsoft Rewards, OneDrive, or other services. The latter was one of the biggest concerns for Euroconsumers and Testaankoop, as linking updates to Microsoft services could be in violation of the European Digital Markets Act.
The battle began in 2021 when Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 would end in October 2025. The system would continue to work, but without security updates, devices would become an easy target for hackers. The only official option was to switch to Windows 11, which requires a PC manufactured after 2018. For a large proportion of users with older but still perfectly functional computers, this would mean early replacement.
A survey by Testaankoop shows that almost a quarter of its members own a computer from 2017 or older and that 80% of these run Windows. This means that around 18% of respondents would be directly affected by the end of Windows 10 support. For this group, the free extension could mean an extra year of breathing space.
No definitive solution yet
However, both Testaankoop and Euroconsumers emphasize that the measure is only an interim solution. The risk remains that from 2026 onwards, millions of devices will be left without updates, which will seriously shorten the lifespan of both private computers and refurbished systems. This means that the end of Windows 10 could still result in large-scale waste and premature obsolescence.
According to Testaankoop spokesperson Ortwin Huysmans, the free extension is an important step for consumers, but certainly not the end goal. The organization continues to insist on a structural approach in which software support is aligned with the actual lifespan of devices. Only in this way can digital markets be organized in a sustainable and fair manner, and consumers receive products that are not artificially rendered unusable.