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Microsoft’s decision to close the free security-update chapter on Windows 10 has exploded into a late‑season public-policy fight, with consumer advocates, repair shops and elected officials urging the company to reverse course or broaden relief after October 14, 2025 — the day Microsoft has set for Windows 10’s end of support. Background Microsoft has published a firm lifecycle cutoff for Windows 10: routine technical assistance and security updates for consumer and many enterprise Windows...

The countdown to October 14, 2025 has turned from a looming calendar item into a concrete lifecycle milestone: Microsoft will stop providing routine security updates, feature and quality fixes, and standard technical support for mainstream Windows 10 editions on that date — and many headlines (and social posts) have paired that fact with a number: 1.4 billion devices. The number is true for Windows as a platform in aggregate, but it’s often framed in ways that overstate what the...

Microsoft’s deadline is real, but it isn’t a sudden apocalypse: Windows 10 reaches end of support on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft has framed two clear paths forward — upgrade to Windows 11 (the recommended route) or use the time‑limited Extended Security Updates (ESU) bridge if you must stay on Windows 10 — while continuing limited app‑level protections for a short period after the OS cutoff. Background / Overview Microsoft published a firm lifecycle date: Windows 10 (final servicing...

Microsoft’s long-running maintenance of Windows 10 reaches a hard, non-negotiable milestone this autumn: routine security updates, feature patches, and standard technical support for mainstream Windows 10 editions officially stop on October 14, 2025, leaving users with a small set of short-term lifelines and a big planning problem to solve. Background Windows 10 launched in 2015 and became the dominant desktop operating system for a decade, cherished for stability and broad compatibility...

Microsoft has set a firm end-of-support date for Windows 10: October 14, 2025 — after that day Microsoft will stop delivering routine OS security patches, feature and quality updates, and standard technical support for mainstream Windows 10 editions unless devices are enrolled in one of the company’s limited extension programs or otherwise covered. Background / Overview Windows 10 has been the dominant desktop operating system for most of the last decade. Microsoft announced a definitive...

If your Windows 10 PC is still humming along, you don’t have to smash the hard drive on October 14, 2025—but you do need a plan. Microsoft will stop shipping regular security, feature, and customer-support updates for mainstream Windows 10 editions on that date, and while machines will continue to boot and run, the OS will become increasingly exposed to newly discovered vulnerabilities unless you enroll in a narrow Extended Security Updates (ESU) pathway or move to a supported platform...

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme has shoved the long-running narrative that Apple’s M4 family sits unchallenged at the top of ARM laptop silicon — but it hasn’t knocked the M4 Max off its perch quite yet. Early vendor-supplied numbers show Qualcomm’s new X2 Elite Extreme delivering eye‑catching single-core and multi-core CPU gains, a substantially larger Hexagon NPU rated at 80 TOPS, and a redesigned Adreno X2 GPU that narrows the graphics gap with Apple’s M4 lineup. Those figures are...

Fortnite Crew is being folded into the reworked Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a built‑in perk — starting November 18, 2025 — and that single change rewrites the value equation for both Fortnite players and Game Pass subscribers. What was a straightforward $11.99 monthly add‑on from Epic Games is now a headline benefit in Microsoft’s freshly upgraded Ultimate tier, which bundles a wider game library, improved cloud streaming, and partner perks into a pricier package. This feature explains...

Microsoft’s Copilot rollout has reached a point where the brand is both omnipresent and opaque — a marketing strategy that is generating internal alarm, user friction, and regulatory scrutiny all at once. Overview Microsoft has deliberately stamped the Copilot name across many parts of its ecosystem: the standalone consumer Copilot app, the rebranded Microsoft 365 Copilot productivity hub, GitHub Copilot for developers, in‑app Copilot features in Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Teams, and device‑level...

Xbox’s Game Pass shake-up is dramatic by design: the company has restructured tiers, rolled cloud access into lower plans, bundled partner services, promised a surge of day‑one releases — and bumped Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $19.99 to $29.99 a month, a 50% increase that landed with immediate backlash across the community. Background / Overview Microsoft built Xbox Game Pass as a loss‑leader platform play: day‑one access to first‑party titles, a rotating catalog, and aggressive bundling to...

OpenAI’s long-promised parental controls for ChatGPT have finally arrived — and they come bundled with granular settings, safety alerts, and a direct link into OpenAI’s newly launched short‑video app, Sora. The move is a clear response to growing scrutiny over how conversational AI interacts with teenagers, including a high‑profile wrongful‑death lawsuit that alleged ChatGPT contributed to a teen’s suicide, and it represents a significant — if imperfect — step toward giving parents tools to...

Windows on Steam just hit a new milestone: Windows 11 now accounts for 63.04% of Windows installations reported in Valve’s September 2025 Hardware & Software Survey, a sharp monthly gain as users accelerate moves away from Windows 10 ahead of its support sunset and Valve prepares to end support for 32‑bit Windows next year. Background Valve’s monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey is a unique window into the PC gaming population — not the broader installed base of Windows worldwide, but...

Microsoft’s plan to push new Microsoft 365 Companion apps onto Windows 11 machines without an explicit opt‑in has ignited fresh criticism from users and IT pros, rekindling debates over bloatware, device control, and Microsoft’s widening AI-first strategy. Starting in late October 2025, Microsoft will automatically install three lightweight taskbar apps — People, Files (File Search), and Calendar — on Windows 11 PCs that already have Microsoft 365 desktop apps. The company says the rollout...

Signing out of a school or work account on Windows 11 is deceptively simple, but the choice between “signing out,” “removing,” or “switching to a local account” has real consequences for synced settings, OneDrive files, BitLocker recovery, and corporate device management — this guide explains the safe, step‑by‑step methods to sign out of a school account on Windows 11, what each action actually does, and the precautions every user should take before they disconnect an organizational...

Microsoft’s leadership ranks have seen a steady stream of exits through 2025, and the departures are not just shuffle‑board moves — they map directly to the fierce talent war sweeping through cloud and AI. CRN’s roundup of “25 Big Microsoft Executive Departures So Far in 2025” catalogued a wide mix of retirements, lateral moves to rivals and fast‑track hires into startups — a list that underscores how the Copilot/Azure era is reshaping careers and incentives across the industry. Background...

Microsoft’s Copilot AI kept its hot streak rolling into Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season, delivering another winning slate of straight-up picks as USA TODAY Sports continued its experiment of asking the chatbot to pick winners and scores for every game on the schedule. Background For the third consecutive week, Microsoft Copilot AI posted a winning record in USA TODAY Sports’ ongoing experiment to see how a modern conversational AI performs at full‑slate NFL predictions. The process was...

LinkedIn’s CEO has quietly lifted the curtain on a practice many executives already suspected: he leans on artificial intelligence to write the majority of his emails — even the ones sent to his own boss, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Ryan Roslansky disclosed during a fireside chat at LinkedIn’s San Francisco office that Microsoft’s Copilot is part drafting tool, part iterative collaborator — a “second brain” he uses to shape almost every important message he sends. Background LinkedIn sits...

Microsoft’s executive reshuffle this week — elevating Judson Althoff to lead the company’s commercial business while Satya Nadella steps back into what he called “founder‑mode” to focus on datacenter build‑out, systems architecture and AI science — is more than a personnel move; it’s a strategic refocus that realigns incentives, reorganises customer touchpoints, and places Microsoft’s capital‑intensive AI build at the center of its corporate priorities. Background / Overview Microsoft...

Steam’s monthly snapshot makes it official: a noticeable chunk of Steam players have finally jumped to Windows 11, and they did it with the clock ticking toward Windows 10’s end-of-support deadline. Valve’s September survey shows Windows 11 reaching 63.04% of surveyed Steam users—up 2.65 percentage points month-over-month—while Windows 10 slipped to 32.18%, a drop of 2.90 points. This short, sharp movement comes as Microsoft’s free-support window for Windows 10 closes on October 14, 2025...

Microsoft has begun rolling out the Windows 11 25H2 update to consumers and businesses — a lean, enablement-package release that mostly formalizes the platform work Microsoft shipped during 2024–2025 while sharpening internal security controls, removing legacy tooling, and resetting support timelines for devices that adopt it. The update arrives as a small activation package for systems already on Windows 11 version 24H2 and is being distributed gradually via Windows Update, with full media...