<p>Windows 10 end of life is set for October 14, 2025, and a startling number of UK businesses haven’t started planning for it. Microsoft confirmed the date back in 2021 — or it might have been early 2022, the announcement kind of blurred into the general noise of post-pandemic IT planning — but the message was clear: after that date, no more security patches, no more bug fixes, no more support. Your machines will still turn on. They just won’t be protected.</p>
<p>We’ve seen this film before. Windows XP ran for years past its end-of-life date, and the WannaCry attack in 2017 tore through NHS trusts that were still running it. That should have been the lesson. For some, it was. For many, it wasn’t.</p>
<p>The <a href=”https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/obsolete-platforms-security” target=”_blank”>NCSC</a> is already advising organisations to migrate away from Windows 10 before the deadline. Their position is straightforward: running unsupported software is an unacceptable risk. Once Microsoft stops patching vulnerabilities, every newly discovered flaw becomes permanent. Attackers know exactly when support ends, and they stockpile exploits for the weeks that follow.</p>
<h2>Why Windows 10 End of Life Hits Small Businesses Hardest</h2>
<p>Large enterprises have IT departments planning migrations a year in advance. They have budgets, project managers, and testing environments. A 15-person accountancy firm in Croydon has Dave who’s “good with computers” and a stack of Dell Optiplexes bought in 2019. That’s the reality for most UK SMEs, and it’s why the transition will catch so many off guard.</p>
<p>There’s also a hardware problem. Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 — a security chip that many older machines don’t have. Microsoft has been rigid about this requirement, which means a significant portion of Windows 10 PCs simply can’t upgrade. They need to be replaced entirely. For a business running ten machines, that’s somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000 in hardware costs alone, before you factor in setup, data migration, and the inevitable half-day of lost productivity per employee.</p>
<p>Some people are hoping Microsoft will extend the deadline. They won’t. They’ve offered a paid Extended Security Updates programme — roughly $61 per device for the first year, doubling each subsequent year — but that’s a temporary bridge, not a solution. And frankly, if you’re paying per machine per year just to keep receiving security patches on an old operating system, you’re throwing money at a problem that only gets more expensive with time.</p>
<h2>Planning the Migration Without Losing Your Mind</h2>
<p>Step one is an inventory. How many machines are running Windows 10? Which ones have TPM 2.0? Which ones are too old to upgrade? You can check TPM status by running tpm.msc on each machine, or your IT provider can audit the entire fleet remotely in an afternoon. Don’t skip this step — I’ve seen businesses order 20 new laptops only to discover that half their existing machines were perfectly capable of running Windows 11.</p>
<p>Step two is application compatibility. Most modern software runs fine on Windows 11, but legacy applications — especially bespoke tools built for specific industries — sometimes don’t. If your business relies on a specialist application, test it on Windows 11 before you commit to rolling it out across the board. Accounting packages, practice management systems, and anything that connects to older hardware like label printers or scanners are the usual culprits.</p>
<p>Step three is scheduling the rollout. Don’t try to migrate everyone at once. Start with a pilot group — three or four users who are comfortable with change — and iron out any issues before expanding. A phased rollout over four to six weeks is realistic for most small businesses. Rush it and you’ll spend more time firefighting than you saved by cutting corners.</p>
<h2>What Happens If You Do Nothing</h2>
<p>After October 2025, your Windows 10 machines will keep running. Nothing dramatic happens on day one. But every week that passes without security updates increases your exposure. Vulnerabilities that would normally be patched within days will remain open indefinitely. Your antivirus software can only do so much if the operating system itself has known, unpatched holes.</p>
<p>The <a href=”https://ico.org.uk/” target=”_blank”>ICO</a> takes a dim view of breaches that result from running unsupported software. Under UK GDPR, you’re expected to implement “appropriate technical measures” to protect personal data. Running an operating system that the manufacturer has publicly abandoned doesn’t meet that standard. If you’re breached and the root cause is an unpatched Windows 10 vulnerability, the regulator won’t be sympathetic.</p>
<p>I think the real risk isn’t a dramatic ransomware attack — though that’s possible. It’s the slow accumulation of vulnerabilities that eventually gets exploited through an automated scan. Most attacks aren’t targeted. They’re bots sweeping the internet for known weaknesses. An unpatched Windows 10 machine connected to the internet after October 2025 will show up on those scans like a beacon.</p>
<p>If you haven’t started planning yet, the time to act is now — not in September when every IT provider in London is booked solid. Get your machines audited, get a <a href=”https://1st-it.com/it-procurement-uk/”>hardware replacement plan</a> in place, and budget for the transition. It’s not the most exciting line item on your accounts, but it’s the one that stops you becoming a case study in what happens when businesses ignore deadlines they’ve known about for three years.</p>