It will be safe but be prepared that if some big vurneability popped up, it might backfire.
But its smaller than you think. Companies love to overblow issues.

You can bypass the requirements with Rufus, but you don't really have to change, not yet at least

They are virtually the same OS to the point that Win10 drivers and software usually work just about flawlessly on 11, Microsoft is just choosing to be a pain in the neck

As long as you don't use your system recklessly, there's not much risk, security is garbage on Windows in general regardless

I would not feel safe doing email and online banking on an unsupported OS.

Originally posted by Fantaghiro:

is it ok to keep Win10 after end of support? i have powerful laptop, which runs even Civ7 without any problems, and therefore don't feel like buying new one only because of windows. I cannot upgrade to Win11 because my processor is not supported.

I personally still use Win10 on my main PC and Win11 on my second PC. They are both about equally prone to virus, trojan, malware infection so you are not loosing much of that thrill and fun from moving to win11. I think even telemetry and data collection used to improve windows is about the same now on both.

yes

It will be fine.

Nope. You are better off moving to Linux. More and more vulnerabilities will pop up, and since M$ will be selling paid support they will also be making those vulnerabilities know publicly, so bad actors will know exactly what to exploit.

Like if you connect a Windows XP PC to the internet right now, you don't even have to open a web browser, your PC will get hundreds of infections in under 20 minutes. This is the same fate that awaits Windows 10.

will be safe even after you stay. keep on Win10 , Win12 will be worst.

Yes you'll be fine on Win10. But not sure why you are so afraid of 11 because it's practically the same. Just a different layout on the start menu.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Like if you connect a Windows XP PC to the internet right now, you don't even have to open a web browser, your PC will get hundreds of infections in under 20 minutes. This is the same fate that awaits Windows 10.

That happens due to how XP was coded and how it handled some stuff. The later Windows will never have this issue later on.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Like if you connect a Windows XP PC to the internet right now, you don't even have to open a web browser, your PC will get hundreds of infections in under 20 minutes. This is the same fate that awaits Windows 10.

That's true if you're running with no firewalls at all.

Originally posted by Zefar:

That happens due to how XP was coded and how it handled some stuff. The later Windows will never have this issue later on.

CVE-2025-55234 : Windows SMB
The history repeats itself

Originally posted by Zefar:

Yes you'll be fine on Win10. But not sure why you are so afraid of 11 because it's practically the same. Just a different layout on the start menu.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Like if you connect a Windows XP PC to the internet right now, you don't even have to open a web browser, your PC will get hundreds of infections in under 20 minutes. This is the same fate that awaits Windows 10.

That happens due to how XP was coded and how it handled some stuff. The later Windows will never have this issue later on.

Windows 11 is different down to the lowest level. Windows 10 had a lot of spyware, but you could disable most of it. With the Education version, which was basically a copy of the enterprise version (so students could learn on it), you could disable all the Spyware.

In Windows 11, you can't. The spyware is baked it. If you disable the AI assistant, it breaks your entire file explorer. Even PCs that supposedly can't support Recall have the hooks built in for Recall anyway. Etc. Windows 11 is different to the core.

And they used to say the same thing about Windows XP. How it was super secure and this would never happen to it. Sure Windows 10 fixed the exploits that XP suffered from, but given enough time, people will find Win 10 exploits too.

Win11 can trace multiple-layered private, and public, VPN back to your registered IP.

Basically, what I am doing because Win11 bricks my system using certain hardware as they are so old they have no certificates, I am dual-booting Win10 (offline) and Win11 (online) using different drives (this system is closing in on update retirement anyways).

MS is extending security updates for Home versions of WIn10 (EoL orginally was set to expire Oct 14, 2025) to Oct 13, 2026 but you need to fulfill a prerequisite as Win10 - Home users are not eligible to purchase the multi-year ESU subscriptions which are offered to commercial customers.

So instead, MS did this for consumers using Win10 Home Editions:

There are two options being slowly rolled out to enroll for this (free) one additional year of critical and important security updates. All options require that your PC is updated to Windows 10, version 22H2, and you must use a Microsoft account during the enrollment process.

Free through Windows Backup: Use the Windows Backup app to sync your PC's settings to your Microsoft account. You must be signed in with a Microsoft account to use this option.

Free with Microsoft Rewards: Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points for one year of ESU coverage.

There is a limited paid third option which states:

Home users can pay $30 USD to get one more year of Extended Security Updates (ESU) after the end-of-support date of October 14, 2025. This option is part of a special ESU program for consumers. The $30 fee covers one year of updates for up to 10 devices linked to the same Microsoft account.

This last paid option is only available for one year for consumers and will not be available for further extension after EoL Oct 13, 2026.

HRK games sells Windows 10 Enterprise (LTSC 2021) for £3.68.
It should work OK for most games and it will still receive security updates until January 2027.

Windows IoT Enterprise can be supported longer but codes are harder to get and more expensive.

Linux is also an option but not for everyone.

Originally posted by Beardface31:

I would not feel safe doing email and online banking on an unsupported OS.

Do it on ios and have win10 with rufus be the gaming pc.

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Originally posted by Zefar:

Yes you'll be fine on Win10. But not sure why you are so afraid of 11 because it's practically the same. Just a different layout on the start menu.



That happens due to how XP was coded and how it handled some stuff. The later Windows will never have this issue later on.

Windows 11 is different down to the lowest level. Windows 10 had a lot of spyware, but you could disable most of it. With the Education version, which was basically a copy of the enterprise version (so students could learn on it), you could disable all the Spyware.

In Windows 11, you can't. The spyware is baked it. If you disable the AI assistant, it breaks your entire file explorer. Even PCs that supposedly can't support Recall have the hooks built in for Recall anyway. Etc. Windows 11 is different to the core.

And they used to say the same thing about Windows XP. How it was super secure and this would never happen to it. Sure Windows 10 fixed the exploits that XP suffered from, but given enough time, people will find Win 10 exploits too.

Windows 10 and 11 are the same core, they just changed it to be more AI focused and made it harder to avoid telemetry.