- Microsoft has changed your mind on extended updates for Windows 10
- The free offer no longer obliges you to synchronize the parameters of your PC in OneDrive
- However, this is only the case for those in the European economic field
Microsoft removes all channels attached to the offer of extended security updates for those who wish to stick to Windows 10 beyond its official end -of -life deadline – but only for people in certain countries.
Windows Central reports that Microsoft modifies the rules of the free update of updates – which extends the management of Windows 10 from October 2025 to October 2026 – for those in the European Economic Domaine (EEE).
These people will be able to register for extended security updates via the Windows Update panel, without any capture. In other words, they will not need to have a Microsoft account and use the Windows backup application to synchronize their PC settings on OneDrive, which is the main take that is currently applied to the free year of updates.
For the rest of the world outside Europe, this will remain the condition attached to the prolonged support updates program (ESU). (Although there are two other options, which is not as attractive for most people – pay $ 30, nor spend 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points).
Microsoft told Windows Central: “In the European economic field, we make updates to the registration process to ensure that it meets local expectations and offers a secure and rationalized experience. Our goal is to support customers and provide them with options when they go to Windows 11, with uninterrupted access to critical updates.”
Analysis: two Windows user levels?
You probably know what I’m going to say here, and it’s just that Microsoft should extend this offer to the rest of the world beyond the EEA. Regardless of “local expectations”, if you are going to do it for a good part of the Windows 10 user base, Microsoft, you should do it for everyone.
What is the engine of these Europeans expectations is, of course, the regulation of data in the region, namely the law on digital markets. Microsoft had to walk very carefully around this legislation, which meant that Windows users in Europe had access to all kinds of additional goodies that other people elsewhere do not obtain – as the possibility of completely deleting the Edge browser from the operating system (and not to be harassed to reinstall it, no longer).
In my opinion, the law on digital markets is, at this stage, to effectively create a kind of system at two levels of Windows user. Some, in Europe, benefit from better advantages on their privacy and are protected from some of the most boring of Microsoft, and others elsewhere do not obtain any of these advantages and must simply undergo these various Irksomed Lums and Arrows.
Does that seem fair or just? No. Am I too dramatic? Well, maybe. But it starts to feel something like a two -level system, and if other stages are taken in this direction in the future – and I do not see why they will not be – well, you have the idea.
Of course, I do not expect Microsoft to change its position on Edge for the whole world, or the various shoots using its services provided by Windows 11, because all this behavior is too anchored at this stage. However, with regard to this new decision, I think it is a bad shape for Microsoft to force some people to synchronize the parameters to obtain prolonged updates, while letting others slide. Even if you do not synchronize all the data of your PC in OneDrive, I should clarify, just the parameters of your PC.
However, what Microsoft Really Need to do here is to offer two years of additional free support in my book – I do not think we are sufficient, because I have discussed it in the past, and more breathing room is justified due to the requirements of the unusually onalory system of Windows 11.
It may be a region that Microsoft will return next year, however. It is possible, and I remain hope, in particular with various groups for the rights of consumer rights exercising pressure on the software giant.
