Microsoft Sued Over End of Windows 10 Support
The end of support for Windows 10 is approaching: On October 14, 2025, Microsoft will officially end support for the OS. This doesn’t mean that Windows 10 devices will stop working overnight. On the contrary, it will feel exactly the same. The difference, however, is that Microsoft will no longer release security updates for Windows 10, which puts users at serious risk in the future.
Those users will either have to upgrade their existing devices to Windows 11, buy a new device that’s compatible with Windows 11, or sign up for a year’s worth of Extended Security Updates . The latter option is likely to be the preferred choice for most Windows 10 users who want to continue using their OS securely and without interruption: It’s like an alternate reality in which Microsoft never stopped supporting Windows 10 and now continues to patch security vulnerabilities for at least a year.
If you want to protect your Windows 10 PC from vulnerabilities after October 14, this is the option for you. The thing is, it will likely require a one-time payment of $30 unless you’re willing to take advantage of one of Microsoft’s two alternative sign-up methods: a Windows Backup subscription or redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. However, it appears there’s another option most of us haven’t considered: suing Microsoft directly.
Lawsuit against Microsoft
In June, Lawrence Klein of California filed a lawsuit against Microsoft , alleging that the company unfairly forced customers to buy new computers to continue using Windows. Klein claims that customers bought their Windows 10 PCs with the expectation of being able to upgrade in the future, while Microsoft knowingly sold machines that it planned to make impossible to upgrade.
Klein himself has two computers that reportedly cannot be upgraded to Windows 11. The lawsuit does not specify what minimum requirements Klein’s hardware does not meet, but it does list general specs including 8th-generation Intel Coffee Lake or Zen 2 processors or higher, Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 support, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The TPM 2.0 requirement has received particular attention since Windows 11 was released, since it is simply security hardware. Even high-end computers without TPM 2.0 were not “Windows 11 ready.”
Klein points to Microsoft’s market dominance in this area as a reason for this decision. According to Klein, Microsoft wants customers to use its new AI products, but both products require more advanced hardware, such as neural processing units (NPUs), to run. Windows 10 devices in most cases do not have the necessary hardware to run Microsoft’s AI products, and so, according to Klein, Microsoft is trying to force users to buy new devices to increase the number of users of AI products.
Klein also claims that Microsoft offered longer deprecation periods for previous operating systems. The lawsuit points out that the last three deprecations allowed for an eight-year period between the release of the new OS and the end of the previous one, while the fourth, Windows XP, offered a seven-year period. By comparison, Windows 11 was released in 2021 and gives users a four-year period.
There is also a dispute over the number of users affected by the decision. Independent estimates suggest that Windows 10 may be installed on 54% of computers worldwide. Klein’s lawsuit claims that Microsoft is putting hundreds of millions of devices at risk because the lack of a security update leaves them vulnerable.
Does this lawsuit have a chance?
I’m not a lawyer, but I am a cynic who covers technology for a living, so my gut instinct says no. It’s not necessarily that one person is against Microsoft, although there is that : it’s that some of the core arguments here don’t hold up.
The plaintiff claims that Microsoft gave users less than a year’s notice that Windows 10 support would end; that’s simply not true. Microsoft listed the end-of-support date for Windows 10 on its website back in 2021. I’ll admit that the company may not have been that transparent in its statements — regular users aren’t going to dig through Microsoft’s support documentation — but to be fair, October 14, 2025 has been that date for more than four years now.
Microsoft isn’t the first company to end support for an OS, either. In fact, it’s inevitable. Sure, the window between Windows 11’s release date and the end of Windows 10’s life is only four years, but Windows 10 came out in 2015. Ten years isn’t a bad time for an OS. Apple, for example, will end support for macOS Monterey in 2024, less than three years after it was first released. In terms of hardware support, macOS Monterey was the last supported version for a number of Macs, which were typically released somewhere between 2013 and 2017 . That means that, depending on your Mac, you’ve been getting security updates for between seven and 11 years. It’s not a perfect comparison, but that’s how technology works in many ways.
I agree that it’s despicable that Microsoft blocked users from upgrading to Windows 11 because of the TPM requirement, especially considering that upgrading an unsupported device to Windows 11 could end Microsoft’s support anyway. I also agree that it’s troubling that Windows 10’s market share is still so high: some users may sign up for extended security updates or buy a Windows 11 device, but I suspect millions won’t. Is Microsoft really going to let so many devices connect to the internet completely unprotected? But at the end of the day, do I think the case in this lawsuit is strong? No.
What to do if your computer is still running Windows 10
As far as we know, Microsoft will change its position before October 14 and offer users another option. Maybe they’ll hold off for another year and automatically sign everyone up for extended security updates for free. Maybe Klein will win his lawsuit and bring real change to the tech industry.
But that’s just a guess. I can only give advice based on what we know now. And Windows 10 support ends in October. Before that happens, you need to make a decision that will ensure you continue to receive security updates. That means signing up for extended security updates through one of the three methods mentioned above, upgrading to a new Windows 11 PC, or disconnecting your Windows 10 PC from the internet entirely. There are no other safe options.
While I think it’s unwise to use unsupported software when connected to the internet, it’s especially dangerous with systems like Windows 10. Given the market share and notoriety of the OS, Windows 10 users will be prime targets for attackers and hackers once Microsoft stops using it. They’ll be looking for any security vulnerabilities they can exploit, and without a patch to protect users, they’ll be able to use those exploits against millions of targets.
Personally, I hope Microsoft changes something before October, but it’s unclear if they will. Until then, the best thing you can do as a Windows 10 user is to be prepared.