A large portion of IT professionals continues to use Windows 10 even after October 14. There is a clear preference for free updates over paid ones.
October 14, 2025, will go down in history as doomsday for Windows 10. On this date, Microsoft ended support for the operating system. In the form of paid or free Extended Security Updates, Microsoft still offered users in the EU a way out.
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ITdaily surveyed IT professionals about their Windows 10 usage over the past month. 285 respondents completed the online survey.
Slow Shift to Windows 11
The end of Windows 10 support hasn’t caused a seismic shift. 40 percent of respondents say they either have a new PC or have upgraded to Windows 11. 9 percent don’t use Windows, which means half of the surveyed IT professionals continued using Windows 10 after October 14. Whether that’s a matter of not wanting or not being able to upgrade will differ for each user.
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Broader market figures confirm the slow shift to Windows 11. Statcounter estimates that globally about forty percent of PCs still run Windows 10. PC manufacturers have noticed this too, who would prefer things to move faster. Dell states that Windows 11 adoption is ‘ten to twelve percent’ behind compared to the previous operating system switch from Windows 8 to Windows 10.
Not Paying
A large group of IT professionals thus remains loyal to Windows 10. 31 percent have signed up for the ESU program. Notably, only 2 percent opt for the paid three-year support that Microsoft primarily offers to business users. 29 percent have opted for free extended support, good for one more year of security updates.
19 percent continue using Windows 10 without any form of support. However, this isn’t without security risks, as you won’t receive patches for newly discovered vulnerabilities in Windows, which appear regularly.
Every month we poll our readers on a current technology topic. Curious about the results of previous polls? Here find the overview.