Think Microsoft Will Extend Windows 10 Support? Think Again

February 7, 2025

Later this year, Windows 10 will no longer be supported—October 15, if you want to be exact. Are you taking steps to ensure you’re upgrading away from Windows 10? If not, you might want to get on that… and consider upgrading away from Office, while you’re at it, since Microsoft is pulling support for that around the same time, too.

Again, it’s imperative that you take action now to prevent security breaches and operational issues moving forward. We want to discuss why it’s so important today.

Windows 10 is Still Incredibly Popular

In December 2024, Windows 10 was used by most individuals who utilize Microsoft products: 62.7 percent, to be specific, compared to 34.12 perent for Windows 11.

But why are these numbers so dramatically different? For one, the specs required to run Windows 11 are much more demanding than Windows 10. Hardware is expensive to implement, and it is only going to get worse in the near future, leaving most to consider the upgrade not worth it for the time being.

Of course, that’s failing to take into account the immense costs that could be associated with a security breach or disaster.

There’s No Ifs About Upgrading

On October 14, 2025, Microsoft 365 and Office applications (including Word, Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, and others) will no longer be supported on Windows 10.

Whether you’re ready or not, if you’re a part of the majority still using the aforementioned services and solutions, you’ll be left with less secure, more buggy, and less reliable tools as time goes on. User security is the primary reason Microsoft is taking such a hard stance on this issue, but Microsoft is, of course, committed to CoPilot AI as a Windows 11 feature.

Your business needs to take action now, well ahead of the Windows 10 end-of-support date, or else you’ll get left behind.

First Column IT can help your business take appropriate action, whether it’s upgrading or implementing new solutions entirely. Learn more by calling us today at (571) 470-5594.

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Different Scams Impact Different Audiences, Which Means You Need to Prepare for All of Them

Back during the holiday season, the Federal Trade Commission shared some data that showed that members of Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z are all more likely to fall for online shopping scams than those over the age of 60…and not by a little, either. Those under that age are apparently 86 percent more likely to fall for these scams.

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The Right Collaboration Tech Makes for a More Efficient Business

There is so much about business that has changed over the last decade. What are the biggest gauges that we've seen is the inflation of cost affecting businesses and the need to scale back without affecting their workforce too dramatically. This has led to a culture of collaboration that has popped up over the last few years. Let's look at three ways that any business is (or should be) using collaboration nowadays.

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Who is Handling These Critical IT Tasks In Your Organization?

Your business might have a full-time IT person, but it also might not have one, and in cases like this, you might find yourself waiting to call your go-to person until you are experiencing a full-blown problem. The reality is that your internal, non-IT staff should not be responsible for the job of your IT department, and if you are relying on someone externally to handle your technology help, then you’ll want to make sure they tick all of the following boxes.

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