The past few weeks have been tough for Microsoft. Fresh from the Recall recoil, CrowdStrike struck, and there were various ups and downs with Copilot momentum in between. However, a constant issue has been an impending security nightmare for the vast majority of its Windows users, just months away.
We’re talking about Windows 10 and the staggeringly painful campaign to warn hundreds of millions of holdouts that they need to upgrade to Windows 11. Back in June, I reported on the latest Microsoft nag—a full-screen warning that “end of support for Windows arrives on October 14, 2025; this means your desktop won’t receive technical support or security updates after that date.”
Maybe, just maybe, users are now starting to listen—albeit not enough, not nearly fast enough. As Windows specialist Neowin has just reported, “in July 2024, Windows 11 hit an important milestone: for the first time since its launch in October 2021, the operating system crossed the 30% market share mark.” Just. The latest stats from Statcounter show better than 7% year-over-year growth for Windows 11.
But this also means that more than twice as many Microsoft Windows users are still not using Windows 11 compared to those who are, even now, three years post-launch. A line chat shows slight growth in Windows 11 and a decline in Windows 10 over the last 12 months.
Windows 11 isn’t at all new, and all those converts and non-converts know its pros and cons. So, setting aside a Copilot AI-driven boost, the question is whether this is a trend or a blip. Certainly, when you look at Statcounter’s Windows 10 chart decline over the last year, the line chart is not something you could ski down. Similarly, Windows 11 growth is an easy stroll up a gentle slope, to put it mildly.
While it’s clearly good news that there’s some movement, the reality looks worrying. There will be some accelerated shifting to Windows 11 in the coming months ahead of its October 2025 end-of-life, and some companies and home users (when it’s available) will take up extended paid support. But many millions of users will come off support and take the risk. With plenty of headlines fueling the reluctance, this problem isn’t going away.
Given the experience of recent weeks, with those global images of blue screens of death all around, come next October, this could be a hackers’ paradise for some time at least. Bad actors will likely take advantage of the situation, mailing out scam after scam to target worried Windows 10 users.
To avoid these issues and ensure your PC remains secure, contact us today to upgrade your Windows 10 PC to Windows 11. Email support@directcomputers.co.uk or call 0114 296 0035.