Opinion: You can keep using Windows 10 after October, but security updates will cost you
I really like it when something I write starts more conversations.
A while back I wrote about Windows PCs and antivirus software. In that piece, I included a line that read in part, 'If you're running Windows 11 (and you do need to be running Windows 11)…'
I received more than a few emails from readers asking why I wrote that specific line about needing to be running Windows 11.
Microsoft is ending support for Windows 10 in October 2025. This means they will no longer offer free security update and fixes.
This news is understandably making people nervous, and probably a little mad.
Nobody likes to be told what to do – especially when it costs money.
There are a lot of users who have figured out their current computers are not compatible with Windows 11. Most of those people are perfectly happy with the computer they currently own, and don't like being told to buy a new one or risk the consequences.
So, let's talk about those consequences. What happens if you continue using Windows 10 after October?
I told one reader that I'd liken it to driving your car without seat belts or airbags. Those safety devices are there to protect you, but you really don't need them unless you are in an accident. (Please wear your seat belts. Obviously, this is just an analogy to give the upgrade some context.)
Everyone must decide how much risk they are willing to undertake. Your Windows 10 computer will still work after October. You will have an increased risk of getting malware or a virus that could compromise your personal information.
Someone asked if running a third-party antivirus app would protect them. Antivirus solutions can still protect against malware or viruses, but the operating system patching that Microsoft has provided will go away
One thing I learned recently is that Microsoft is only ending free Windows 10 security updates.
Business customers can buy up to three years of extended security updates, but those will cost more. Each machine will cost US$61 (RM260) for the first year, then the cost doubles each year in the second and third years. After three years, the ESU will cost business and enterprise customers a total of US$427 (1,820) per machine.
As for consumers, if you are willing to pay US$30 (RM127), you can buy one more year of protection for your Windows 10 Home systems (through October 2026). This is called the Extended Security Update (ESU) program for Windows 10.
Microsoft has not mentioned ESU availability for home users after the first year, but stay tuned. – Tribune News Service
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
20 hours ago
- The Star
How a Hong Kong startup is going about recycling lithium batteries
A Hong Kong lithium battery recycling start-up is eyeing opportunities at home and in Southeast Asia amid overcapacity and intense competition for recyclable materials in mainland China. Hong Kong Science and Technology Park-based Achelous Pure Metals currently has a capacity to process 150 tonnes of used non-electric vehicle (EV) batteries a year. It has set up its operations in an industrial building in Tuen Mun in the New Territories, which is pending approval from the Environmental Protection Department. The company crushes the batteries into a so-called black mass – a powdery mixture of valuable metals like lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel – which is then refined into lithium carbonate, cobalt and nickel compounds. 'Our goal is to tackle the growing problem of discarded lithium-ion batteries by bringing scalable, movable, eco-friendly recycling to urban centres starting in Hong Kong, with plans to expand to [Southeast] Asia,' said Alan Wong Yuk-chun, the co-founder and technical director. He said that as the city lacked recycling facilities, small-scale recycling of non-EV batteries could be done in Hong Kong and showcased for overseas business development. Most spent EV batteries were collected and exported, he added. Between two and three tonnes of lithium batteries a day were collected from discarded electrical appliances and power banks in Hong Kong, he said. Achelous has built a pilot version of a robot-assisted system to sort, shred and sift materials derived from the batteries. The system, which is pending a patent, uses a combination of vacuum and heat treatment to evaporate and capture harmful materials and gases like epoxy adhesives and fluorine. The five-year-old start-up has built another pilot project that combines nanoparticles suspended in water or organic solvents that separates molecules based on their charge, to extract and refine valuable metals from the black mass. While Achelous has already deployed its technology at a client's recycling plant in east China's Jiangsu province, which is capable of processing 10,000 tonnes a year, it faces challenges in growing its business due to rampant growth in recycling capacity on the mainland in recent years. 'Our client's factory has to compete for black mass at higher and higher prices, while the prices of end-products like lithium carbonate keep falling amid oversupply,' said Shawn Cheng, Achelous' co-founder and research and development director. The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate, sometimes referred to as 'white gold', plunged nearly 90% to 60,600 yuan (US$7,725) a tonne in May, from 568,000 yuan in November 2022, according to Daiwa Capital Markets. Amid recycling overcapacity in China and US-China trade tensions that threaten to slow demand for lithium batteries, lithium oversupply may peak globally in 2027 before seeing a deficit in the early 2030s, according to a forecast by UK-based commodities consultancy Wood Mackenzie last month. Instead of swimming against the tide, Achelous changed its strategy, setting up a production line in Hong Kong while also seeking to help companies in Southeast Asia build 'micro-factories' to break down lithium batteries and produce black mass to export to its clients in China. The company is in talks with prospective partners to recycle spent lithium batteries from handheld transceivers used by the security industry in Hong Kong, and from discarded electronics in Malaysia and Singapore. 'We want to help [our] partners meet their future recycled content obligations and set up a system to keep track of the materials' footprint for compliance,' Cheng said. Globally, demand for recycled battery materials has been mostly driven by regulations implemented in 2023 by the European Union. The battery and recycling industry is working towards a 50% target for lithium recovery by 2027, rising to 80% by 2031. For cobalt, copper, lead and nickel, the target is 90% by 2027 and 95% by 2031. – South China Morning Post
The Star
21 hours ago
- The Star
Japan space ambitions dealt another blow after ispace Inc moon landing fails
A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event in the wee hours in Tokyo. -- PHOTO: EPA-EFE via The Straits Times/Asia News Network TOKYO (Bloomberg): Tokyo-based ispace Inc.'s second lunar lander attempt failed after it lost contact, a blow to Japan's burgeoning commercial space industry. Ispace's Resilience lander did not decelerate in time, and it was highly likely it made a hard landing on the moon, according to executives. The company's shares were set to fall by their daily limit in Tokyo Friday. The landing attempt, whose live stream was watched by more than 17,000 people, was heralded as a sign of a renaissance in Japan's space operations. Its failure casts a cloud on ispace's next mission, with executives saying the impact there is uncertain. Loss of contact just before the lander was expected to touch down brought founder and Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Hakamada close to tears. "But I don't think this is the time to cry,' he said at a news conference. "We need to resolve these issues and achieve results in the next Mission 3 and Mission 4.' The mission follows a failed attempt in 2023 when a programming error led to a crash of the spacecraft. If the attempt had succeeded, ispace would have been the first non-US company to park a spacecraft safely on the moon. Texas-based rivals Intuitive Machines Inc. and Firefly Aerospace Inc. have already done so, as countries race to explore the moon. Comparing ispace's results with those of its US rivals, "We are forced to acknowledge that we've fallen a step behind,' Chief Financial Officer Jumpei Nozaki said. The Japanese lander launched into space aboard one of Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in January. The rocket also launched a lander from Firefly that touched down on the lunar surface in March. Resilience was expected to dispatch its rover, named Tenacious, which is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel to collect lunar regolith and transmit data back to the lander. Ispace signed a contract in 2020 with NASA to provide the US agency with regolith collected on the moon's surface. Aboard the lander are customer payloads with varying purposes including a commemorative plate from Bandai Namco Research Institute Inc. - an affiliate of the entertainment company behind game brands like Pac Man and Gundam - and experimental equipment such as a device to extract hydrogen from water. Receipt of as much as ¥238 million ($1.7 million) of the estimated $16 million payload may now be in jeopardy, the company said. Ispace plans to send its landers more frequently to the moon starting in 2027, with an aim to transport payloads two or three times a year, according to Hakamada. The plan is based on his belief that humans could start making a living on the moon as early as the 2040s. Hakamada said in an interview before the landing attempt that Japan will lose out on opportunities to seek fresh growth if it refuses to accept failures as a course of nature. "It'd be a huge loss for our society if failures only discourage bold attempts and trials,' he said. --With assistance from Mayumi Negishi, Gareth Allan and Kana Nishizawa. -- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
New Straits Times
a day ago
- New Straits Times
Indonesia wealth fund considers stake in Grab-GoTo deal
KUALA LUMPUR: Newly launched sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia is in early talks with GoTo to get a piece of US-listed rival Grab's potential buyout of the ride-hailing and food delivery firm, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The fund is seeking a minority stake in the combined entity, which could help ease the Indonesian government's concerns of Singapore-headquartered Grab owning the country's biggest tech firm, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Indonesia's antitrust regulator last month started research aimed at identifying risks from a possible deal between the tech giants, who have yet to confirm merger talks. Grab is looking to strike a deal in the second quarter and could value GoTo at around US$7 billion, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last month. The companies have made progress on the structure of the deal, but talks had slowed down recently due to potential regulatory demands, Bloomberg News said. Indonesia launched Danantara in February, aiming to invest in a wide range of projects from metal processing to artificial intelligence. It will hold government stakes in state firms and is intended to operate like Singapore's investment arm Temasek.
